2 Kings 17:6‑23• 6{i}In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.{/i}
7{i}And so it was, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods;{/i}
8{i}and they walked in the statutes of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.{/i}
9{i}And the children of Israel did secretly against Jehovah their God things that were not right; and they built them high places in all their cities, from the watchmen's tower to the fortified city.{/i}
10{i}And they set them up columns and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree;{/i}
11{i}and there they burned incense on all the high places, as did the nations that Jehovah had carried away from before them, and they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger;{/i}
12{i}and they served idols, as to which Jehovah had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.{/i}
13{i}And Jehovah testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets, all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.{/i}
14{i}But they would not hear, and hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in Jehovah their God.{/i}
15{i}And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant which he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he had testified unto them; and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.{/i}
16{i}And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of the heavens, and served Baal;{/i}
17{i}and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.{/i}
18{i}Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there remained but the tribe of Judah only.{/i}
19{i}Also Judah kept not the commandments of Jehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made.{/i}
20{i}And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel; and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.{/i}
21{i}For Israel had rent the kingdom from the house of David; and they had made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam violently turned Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin a great sin.{/i}
22{i}And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them:{/i}
23{i}until Jehovah had removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said through all his servants the prophets; and Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day.{/i} (2 Kings 17:6‑23)
2 Chron. 32:1‑23• 1{i}After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to break into them{/i}.
2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
3he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
4So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water.
5Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David; and made darts and shields in abundance.
6And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,
7Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
8with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9{i}After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he himself was before Lachish, and all his power with him), unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,{/i}
10{i}Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: On what do ye rely that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?{/i}
11{i}Does not Hezekiah persuade you, to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?{/i}
12{i}Has not the same Hezekiah removed his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?{/i}
13{i}Do ye not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the countries? Were the gods of the nations of the countries in any wise able to deliver their country out of my hand?{/i}
14{i}Who is there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have utterly destroyed, that was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?{/i}
15{i}And now, let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this manner, neither yet believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, nor out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?{/i}
16{i}And his servants spoke yet more against Jehovah, the true God, and against his servant Hezekiah.{/i}
17{i}And he wrote a letter to rail at Jehovah the God of Israel, and to speak against him saying, As the gods of the nations of the countries have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.{/i}
18{i}And they cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them; that they might take the city.{/i}
19{i}And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of man's hand.{/i}
20For this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven.
21And Jehovah sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
22Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib {i}the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all, and protected them on every side.{/i}
23{i}And many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; and he was thenceforth magnified in the sight of all the nations.{/i} (2 Chron. 32:1‑23)
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)