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

1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah as king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah

2 at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

4 He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time.

6 He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses.

7 So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him.

8 He defeated the Philistines and raided their settlements, from the smallest village to the largest city, including Gaza and its surrounding territory.

9 In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign - which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel - Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria.

10 In the third year of the siege Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea's reign.

11 The Assyrian emperor took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

12 Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

14 Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: "I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand." The emperor's answer was that Hezekiah should send him ten tons of silver and one ton of gold.

15 Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury;

16 he also stripped the gold from the temple doors and the gold with which he himself had covered the doorposts, and he sent it all to Sennacherib.

17 The Assyrian emperor sent a large army from Lachish to attack Hezekiah at Jerusalem; it was commanded by his three highest officials. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they occupied the road where the cloth makers work by the ditch that brings water from the upper pool.

18 Then they sent for King Hezekiah, and three of his officials went out to meet them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace; Shebna, the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, who was in charge of the records.

19 One of the Assyrian officials told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident.

20 He demanded, "Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria?

21 You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick - it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him."

22 The Assyrian official went on, "Or will you tell me that you are relying on the Lord your God? It was the Lord's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed, when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar in Jerusalem.

23 I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many men to ride them!

24 You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry!

25 Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord's help? The Lord himself told me to attack it and destroy it."

26 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, "Speak Aramaic to us, sir. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening."

27 He replied, "Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will."

28 Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, "Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you!

29 He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you.

30 And don't let him persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don't think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city.

31 Don't listen to Hezekiah. The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells -

32 until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread; it is a land of olives, olive oil, and honey. If you do what he commands, you will not die, but live. Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the Lord will rescue you.

33 Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria?

34 Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did anyone save Samaria?

35 When did any of the gods of all these countries ever save their country from our emperor? Then what makes you think the Lord can save Jerusalem?"

36 The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word.

37 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes in grief, and went and reported to the king what the Assyrian official had said.

1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the Lord.

2 He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth.

3 This is the message which he told them to give Isaiah: "Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it.

4 The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the Lord your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive."

5 When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message,

6 he sent back this answer: "The Lord tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you with their claims that he cannot save you.

7 The Lord will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the Lord will have him killed there."

8 The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him.

9 Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah of Judah

10 to tell him, "The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you.

11 You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape?

12 My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them.

13 Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"

14 King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the Lord,

15 and prayed, "O Lord, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky.

16 Now, Lord, look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God.

17 We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate,

18 and burned up their gods - which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands.

19 Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that only you, O Lord, are God."

20 Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer

21 the Lord had said, "The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you.

22 Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel.

23 You sent your messengers to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests.

24 You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.

25 "Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.

26 The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

27 "But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me.

28 I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth, and take you back by the same road you came."

29 Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, "Here is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to plant your grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes.

30 Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit.

31 There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the Lord is determined to make this happen.

32 "And this is what the Lord has said about the Assyrian emperor: "He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it.

33 He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the Lord, have spoken.

34 I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.' "

35 That night an angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!

36 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh.

37 One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.

1 God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

2 So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;

3 even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.

4 There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the sacred house of the Most High.

5 God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed; at early dawn he will come to its aid.

6 Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done. See what amazing things he has done on earth.

9 He stops wars all over the world; he breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire.

10 "Stop fighting," he says, "and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world."

11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

1 Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel; hear us, leader of your flock. Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,

2 reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your strength; come and save us!

3 Bring us back, O God! Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

4 How much longer, Lord God Almighty, will you be angry with your people's prayers?

5 You have given us sorrow to eat, a large cup of tears to drink.

6 You let the surrounding nations fight over our land; our enemies insult us.

7 Bring us back, Almighty God! Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

8 You brought a grapevine out of Egypt; you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.

9 You cleared a place for it to grow; its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.

10 It covered the hills with its shade; its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.

11 It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea and as far as the Euphrates River.

12 Why did you break down the fences around it? Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;

13 wild hogs trample it down, and wild animals feed on it.

14 Turn to us, Almighty God! Look down from heaven at us; come and save your people!

15 Come and save this grapevine that you planted, this young vine you made grow so strong!

16 Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down; look at them in anger and destroy them!

17 Preserve and protect the people you have chosen, the nation you made so strong.

18 We will never turn away from you again; keep us alive, and we will praise you.

19 Bring us back, Lord God Almighty. Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.

1 Praise the Lord! Praise his name, you servants of the Lord,

2 who stand in the Lord's house, in the Temple of our God.

3 Praise the Lord, because he is good; sing praises to his name, because he is kind.

4 He chose Jacob for himself, the people of Israel for his own.

5 I know that our Lord is great, greater than all the gods.

6 He does whatever he wishes in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in the depths below.

7 He brings storm clouds from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the storms, and he brings out the wind from his storeroom.

8 In Egypt he killed all the first-born of people and animals alike.

9 There he performed miracles and wonders to punish the king and all his officials.

10 He destroyed many nations and killed powerful kings:

11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the kings in Canaan.

12 He gave their lands to his people; he gave them to Israel.

13 Lord, you will always be proclaimed as God; all generations will remember you.

14 The Lord will defend his people; he will take pity on his servants.

15 The gods of the nations are made of silver and gold; they are formed by human hands.

16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, and eyes, but cannot see.

17 They have ears, but cannot hear; they are not even able to breathe.

18 May all who made them and who trust in them become like the idols they have made!

19 Praise the Lord, people of Israel; praise him, you priests of God!

20 Praise the Lord, you Levites; praise him, all you that worship him!

21 Praise the Lord in Zion, in Jerusalem, his home. Praise the Lord!