2 Kings 18; 2 Kings 19; Psalms 46; Psalms 80; Psalms 135

1 Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, became king of Judah in the third year of Israel's King Hoshea, Elah's son.

2 He was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi; she was Zechariah's daughter.

3 Hezekiah did what was right in the LORD's eyes, just as his ancestor David had done.

4 He removed the shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the sacred pole. He crushed the bronze snake that Moses made, because up to that point the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (The snake was named Nehushtan.)

5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, Israel's God. There was no one like him among all of Judah's kings—not before him and not after him.

6 He clung to the LORD and never deviated from him. He kept the commandments that the LORD had commanded Moses.

7 The LORD was with Hezekiah; he succeeded at everything he tried. He rebelled against Assyria's king and wouldn't serve him.

8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories, from watchtower to fortified city.

9 Assyria's King Shalmaneser marched against Samaria and attacked it in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Israel's King Hoshea, Elah's son.

10 After three years the Assyrians captured the city. Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was Hoshea's ninth year.

11 Assyria's king sent Israel into exile to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

12 All this happened because they wouldn't listen to the LORD their God. They broke his covenant—all that the LORD's servant Moses had commanded them. They didn't listen, and they didn't do it.

13 Assyria's King Sennacherib marched against all of Judah's fortified cities and captured them in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah.

14 Judah's King Hezekiah sent a message to the Assyrian king at Lachish, saying, "I admit wrongdoing. Please withdraw from me, and I'll agree to whatever you demand from me." Assyria's king required Judah's King Hezekiah to pay him three hundred kikkars of silver and thirty kikkars of gold.

15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the LORD's temple and in the palace treasuries.

16 At that time King Hezekiah had to strip down the doors and doorposts of the LORD's temple, which he had covered with gold. He gave all of it to the Assyrian king.

17 Assryia's king sent his general, his chief officer, and his field commander from Lachish, together with a large army, to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They stood at the water channel of the Upper Pool, which is on the road to the field where clothes are washed.

18 Then they called for the king. Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them.

19 Then the field commander said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: This is what Assyria's Great King says: Why do you feel so confident?

20 Do you think that empty words are the same as good strategy and the strength to fight? Who are you trusting in that you now rebel against me?

21 It appears that you are trusting in a staff—Egypt—that's nothing but a broken reed! It will stab the hand of anyone who leans on it! That's all that Pharaoh, Egypt's king, is to anyone who trusts in him.

22 Now suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God.' Isn't he the one whose shrines and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem'?

23 "So now make a wager with my master, Assyria's king. I'll give you two thousand horses if you can supply the riders!

24 How will you drive back even the least important official among my master's servants when you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders?

25 What's more, do you think I've marched against this place to destroy it without the LORD's support? It was the LORD who told me, March against this land and destroy it!"

26 Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic because we understand it. Don't speak with us in Hebrew, because the people on the wall will hear it."

27 The field commander said to them, "Did my master send me to speak these words just to you and your master and not also to the men on the wall? They are the ones who will have to eat their dung and drink their urine along with you."

28 Then the field commander stood up and shouted in Hebrew at the top of his voice, saying, “Listen to the message of the great king, Assyria's king.

29 This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah lie to you. He won't be able to rescue you from the power of Assyria's king.

30 Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will certainly rescue us. This city won't be handed over to Assyria's king.'

31 "Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what Assyria's king says: Surrender to me and come out. Then each of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree, and drink water from your own well

32 until I come to take you to a land just like your land. It will be a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey. Then you will live and not die! Don't listen to Hezekiah, because he will mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us.'

33 Were any of the gods of the other nations able to rescue their lands from the power of Assyria's king?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?

35 Which one of any of the gods of those lands has rescued their country from my power? Why should the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?"

36 But the people kept quiet and didn't answer him with a single word, because King Hezekiah's command was, "Don't answer him!"

37 Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder, came to Hezekiah with ripped clothes. They told him what the field commander had said.

1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he ripped his clothes, covered himself with mourning clothes, and went to the LORD's temple.

2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah, Amoz's son. They were all wearing mourning clothes.

3 They said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, punishment, and humiliation. It's as if children are ready to be born, but there's no strength to see it through.

4 Perhaps the LORD your God has heard all the words of the field commander who was sent by his master, Assyria's king—how he insulted the living God—perhaps God will punish him for the words the LORD your God heard. Send up a prayer for those few people who still survive."

5 When King Hezekiah's servants got to Isaiah,

6 Isaiah said to them, "Say this to your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: Don't be afraid at the words you heard, which the officers of Assyria's king have used to insult me.

7 I'm about to put a spirit in him, so when he hears a rumor, he'll go back to his own country. Then I'll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.'"

8 The field commander heard that the Assyrian king had left Lachish. So he went back to the king and found him attacking Libnah.

9 Then the Assyrian king learned that Cush's King Tirhakah was on his way to fight against him. So he sent messengers to Hezekiah again, saying,

10 "Say this to Judah's King Hezekiah: Don't let the God you trust in persuade you by saying, ‘Jerusalem won't be handed over to the Assyrian king.'

11 You yourself have heard what Assyrian kings do to other countries, wiping them out. Is it likely that you will be saved?

12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the people of Eden in Telassar—save them?

13 Where now is Hamath's king, Arpad's king, or the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?"

14 Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers and read them. Then he went to the temple and spread them out before the LORD.

15 Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying, "LORD God of Israel, you sit enthroned on the winged creatures. You alone are God over all the earth's kingdoms. You made both heaven and earth.

16 LORD, turn your ear this way and hear! LORD, open your eyes and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words. He sent them to insult the living God!

17 It's true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed many nations and their lands.

18 The Assyrians burned the gods of those nations with fire because they aren't real gods. They are only man-made creations of wood and stone. That's how the Assyrians could destroy them.

19 So now, LORD our God, please save us from Sennacherib's power! Then all the earth's kingdoms will know that you, LORD, are the only true God."

20 Then Isaiah, Amoz's son, sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, Israel's God, says: I have heard your prayer about Assyria's King Sennacherib.

21 This is the message that the LORD has spoken against him: The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and mocks you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.

22 Whom did you insult and ridicule? Against whom did you raise your voice and pridefully lift your eyes? It was against the holy one of Israel!

23 You've insulted the Lord with your messengers; you said, ‘I, with my many chariots, have gone up to the highest mountains, to the farthest reaches of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the best of its pine trees. I have reached its most remote lodging place, its best forest.

24 I have dug wells, have drunk waters in foreign lands. With my own feet, I dried up all of Egypt's streams.'

25 Haven't you heard? I set this up long ago; I planned it in the distant past! Now I have made it happen, making fortified cities collapse into piles of rubble.

26 Their citizens have lost their power. They are frightened and ashamed. They've become like plants in a field, tender green shoots, the grass on rooftops, burned up before it matures.

27 I know where you live, how you go out and come in, and how you rage against me.

28 And because you rage against me and because your pride has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bit in your mouth. I will make you go back the same way you came.

29 “Now this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year, sow seed and harvest it; plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 The survivors of the house of Judah who have escaped will take root below and bear fruit above.

31 Those who remain will go out from Jerusalem, and those who survive will go out from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of heavenly forces will do this.

32 "Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Assyria's king: He won't enter this city. He won't shoot a single arrow there. He won't come near the city with a shield. He won't build a ramp to besiege it.

33 He will go back by the same way he came. He won't enter this city, declares the LORD.

34 I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David."

35 That night the LORD's messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere.

36 So Assyria's King Sennacherib departed, returning to Nineveh, where he stayed.

37 Later, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. They then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.

1 God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.

2 That's why we won't be afraid when the world falls apart, when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,

3 when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams gladden God's city, the holiest dwelling of the Most High.

5 God is in that city. It will never crumble. God will help it when morning dawns.

6 Nations roar; kingdoms crumble. God utters his voice; the earth melts.

7 The LORD of heavenly forces is with us! The God of Jacob is our place of safety. Selah

8 Come, see the LORD's deeds, what devastation he has imposed on the earth—

9 bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world, breaking the bow and shattering the spear, burning chariots with fire.

10 "That's enough! Now know that I am God! I am exalted among all nations; I am exalted throughout the world!

11 The LORD of heavenly forces is with us! The God of Jacob is our place of safety. Selah

1 Shepherd of Israel, listen! You, the one who leads Joseph as if he were a sheep. You, who are enthroned upon the winged heavenly creatures. Show yourself

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh! Wake up your power! Come to save us!

3 Restore us, God! Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

4 LORD God of heavenly forces, how long will you fume against your people's prayer?

5 You've fed them bread made of tears; you've given them tears to drink three times over!

6 You've put us at odds with our neighbors; our enemies make fun of us.

7 Restore us, God of heavenly forces! Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it; then it planted its roots deep, filling the land.

10 The mountains were covered by its shade; the mighty cedars were covered by its branches.

11 It sent its branches all the way to the sea; its shoots went all the way to the Euphrates River.

12 So why have you now torn down its walls so that all who come along can pluck its fruit,

13 so that any boar from the forest can tear it up, so that the bugs can feed on it?

14 Please come back, God of heavenly forces! Look down from heaven and perceive it! Attend to this vine,

15 this root that you planted with your strong hand, this son whom you secured as your very own.

16 It is burned with fire. It is chopped down. They die at the rebuke coming from you.

17 Let your hand be with the one on your right side— with the one whom you secured as your own—

18 then we will not turn away from you! Revive us so that we can call on your name.

19 Restore us, LORD God of heavenly forces! Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD's name! All you who serve the LORD, praise God!

2 All you who stand in the LORD's house— who stand in the courtyards of our God's temple—

3 praise the LORD, because the LORD is good! Sing praises to God's name because it is beautiful!

4 Because the LORD chose Jacob as his own, God chose Israel as his treasured possession.

5 Yes, I know for certain that the LORD is great— I know our Lord is greater than all other gods.

6 The LORD can do whatever he wants in heaven or on earth, in the seas and in every ocean depth.

7 God forms clouds at the far corners of the earth. God makes lightning for the rain. God releases the wind from its storeroom.

8 God struck down the Egyptians' oldest offspring— both human and animal!

9 God sent signs and wonders into the very center of Egypt— against Pharaoh and all his servants.

10 God struck down many nations and killed mighty kings:

11 Sihon the Amorite king, Og the king of Bashan, and all the Canaanite kings.

12 Then God handed their land over as an inheritance— as an inheritance to Israel, his own people.

13 LORD, your name is forever! LORD, your fame extends from one generation to the next!

14 The LORD gives justice to his people and has compassion on those who serve him.

15 The nations' idols are just silver and gold— things made by human hands.

16 They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have eyes, but they can't see.

17 They have ears, but they can't listen. No, there's no breath in their lungs!

18 Let the people who made these idols and all who trust in them become just like them!

19 House of Israel, bless the LORD! House of Aaron, bless the LORD!

20 House of Levi, bless the LORD! You who honor the LORD, bless the LORD!

21 Bless the LORD from Zion— bless the one who lives in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!