2 Kings 19:1-7; 2 Kings 19:20-34

2 Kings 19:1-7

1 On hearing it, King Hizkiyahu tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of ADONAI.

2 He sent Elyakim, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and the leading cohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha'yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz.

3 They said to him, "This is what Hizkiyahu says: 'Today is a day of trouble, rebuke and disgrace. Children are ready to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth.

4 Maybe ADONAI your God will hear all the words of Rav-Shakeh, whom his master the king of Ashur has sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the message which ADONAI your God has heard. So pray for the remnant that is left."

5 When King Hizkiyahu's servants came to Yesha'yahu,

6 he said to them, "Tell your master that this is what ADONAI says: 'Don't be afraid of the words you heard the servants of the king of Ashur use to insult me.

7 I will put a spirit in him that will make him hear a rumor and return to his own land; then I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land.'"

2 Kings 19:20-34

20 Then Yesha'yahu the son of Amotz sent this message to Hizkiyahu: "ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'You prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashur, and I have heard you.'

21 Here is ADONAI's answer concerning him: 'The virgin daughter of Tziyon despises you; she laughs you to scorn. The daughter of Yerushalayim shakes her head at you.

22 Whom have you taunted and insulted? Against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? The Holy One of Isra'el!

23 "'Through your messengers you taunted Adonai. You said, "With my many chariots I have ascended the mountain heights even in the far reaches of the L'vanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best cypresses. I reached its remotest corners and its best forests.

24 I dug [wells] in foreign lands, and I drank the water. The soles of my [soldiers'] feet dried up all the rivers of Egypt."

25 "'Haven't you heard? Long ago I made it; in antiquity I produced it; and now I am making it happen: you are turning fortified cities into heaps of ruins;

26 while their inhabitants, shorn of power, are disheartened and ashamed, weak as grass, frail as plants, like grass on the rooftops or grain scorched by the east wind.

27 "'But I know when you sit, when you leave, when you enter - and when you rage against me.

28 And because of your rage against me, because of your pride that has reached my ears, I am putting my hook in your nose and my bridle on your lips; and I will make you return by the way on which you came.

29 "'This will be the sign for you: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 "'Meanwhile, the remnant of the house of Y'hudah that has escaped will again take root downward and bear fruit upward;

31 for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim, those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of ADONAI-Tzva'ot will accomplish this.'

32 "Therefore this is what ADONAI says concerning the king of Ashur: 'He will not come to this city or even shoot an arrow there; he will not confront it with a shield or erect earthworks against it.

33 By the way he came he will return; he will not come to this city,' says ADONAI.

34 'For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.'"