Isa. 36:1‑37:38• 1And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah [that] Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
2And the king of Assyria sent Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a strong force. And he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field.
3Then came forth to him Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest?
5I say [sayest thou], Counsel and strength for the war [are but] a word of the lips. Now on whom trustest thou that hast revolted against me?
6Behold, thou trustest on the staff of that broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.
7But if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God: [is it] not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8And now, I pray thee, engage with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants? And thou trustest in Egypt for horses and chariots!
10And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
11And Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rab-shakeh, Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in Syrian, for we understand [it]; and speak not to us in the Jewish [language] in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall.
12And Rab-shakeh said, [Is it] to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? [Is it] not to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
13And Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish [language] and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you;
15neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will certainly deliver us: this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one of his cistern;
17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Let not Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where [are] the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who [are they] among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
21And they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king's command was, saying, Answer him not.
22And Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.
1And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.
2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3And they said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely: for the children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
4It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up [thy] prayer for the remnant that is left.
5And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Behold, I will put a spirit into him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8And Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come out to fight against thee. And when he heard [it], he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that [were] in Thelassar?
13Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?
14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah.
15And Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah saying,
16Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest [upon] the cherubim, thou [art] He, even thou alone, the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
17Incline thine ear, Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, Jehovah, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.
18Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their land,
19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they [were] no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.
20Now therefore, Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, thou only.
21And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this [is] the word which Jehovah hath spoken against him. The virgin-daughter of Zion hath despised thee, [and] laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted the voice? Against the Holy One of Israel hast thou lifted up thine eyes on high.
24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the recesses of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, its choice cypresses: and I will enter into the height of its border, the forest of its fruitful field.
25I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of Matsor.
26Hast thou not heard long ago I have done it, how of ancient days I purposed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest waste fortified cities [to] ruinous heaps.
27And their inhabitants [were] powerless, they were dismayed and put to shame; they were [as] the grass of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetops, and [corn] blighted before it be grown up.
28But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.
29Because thy raging against me and thine arrogance is come up into mine ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will make thee go back by the way by which thou camest.
30And this [shall be] the sign unto thee; ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape; the zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall perform this.
33Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it.
34By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah.
35For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36And the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses.
37And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead. (Isa. 36:1‑37:38)