1
And it came to pass, when King Chizqiyahu heard, that he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the House of Yahuah.
2
And he sent Elyaqim, who was over the House, and Shevna the scribe, and the elders of the kohenim, covered with sackcloth, to Yeshayahu the prophet, son of Amotz.
3
And they said to him: “Thus says Chizqiyahu: ‘This day is a day of distress, and rebuke, and contempt, for sons have come to the mouth of birth, but there is no strength to bring forth.
4
Perhaps Yahuah your Elohim shall hear the words of Ravshaqeh, whom his master the king of Ashshur sent to reproach the living Elohim, and shall rebuke the words Yahuah your Elohim has heard. Therefore lift up prayer for the remnant that is found.’”
5
And the servants of King Chizqiyahu came to Yeshayahu.
6
And Yeshayahu said to them: “Thus you shall say to your master: ‘Thus says Yahuah: Do not fear before the words you have heard, by which the young men of the king of Ashshur blasphemed Me.
7
See, I am placing a ruach in him, and he shall hear a report and return to his own land; and I shall cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8
And Ravshaqeh returned and found the king of Ashshur fighting against Livnah, for he had heard that he departed from Lakhish.
9
And he heard concerning Tirhaqah king of Kush, saying, “He has come out to fight against you.” And when he heard, he sent messengers to Chizqiyahu, saying:
10
“Thus you shall speak to Chizqiyahu king of Yehudah, saying: ‘Do not let your Elohim, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, “Yerushalayim shall not be given into the hand of the king of Ashshur.”
11
See, you have heard what the kings of Ashshur have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
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Have the elohim of the nations delivered those my fathers destroyed—Gozan and Charan and Retzef, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
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Where is the king of Chamat, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sefarvayim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14
And Chizqiyahu took the sefer from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Chizqiyahu went up to the House of Yahuah and spread it before Yahuah.
15
And Chizqiyahu prayed to Yahuah, saying:
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“Yahuah of Hosts, Elohim of Yisra’el, who dwells above the keruvim, You alone are Elohim over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17
Incline Your ear, Yahuah, and hear. Open Your eyes, Yahuah, and see. Hear all the words of Sancheriv which he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.
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Truly, Yahuah, the kings of Ashshur have laid waste all the lands and their ground,
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and have given their elohim into the fire, for they were not elohim, but the work of the hands of Adam—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
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And now, Yahuah our Elohim, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are Yahuah.”
21
Then Yeshayahu son of Amotz sent to Chizqiyahu, saying: “Thus says Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el: Because you prayed to Me concerning Sancheriv king of Ashshur,
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this is the Word Yahuah has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Tziyon despises you and mocks you. The daughter of Yerushalayim shakes her head behind you.
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Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you lifted your voice and raised your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Yisra’el.
24
By the hand of your servants you have reproached Adonai, and you have said: “By the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the height of mountains, the farthest parts of Levanon. I cut down its tall cedars, its choice cypress trees. I enter the height of its extremity, its fruitful forest.
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I have dug and drunk waters, and with the sole of my feet I dried all the streams of Matzor.”
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Have you not heard? From distant time I made it; from ancient days I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should make fortified cities collapse into ruined heaps.
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Their inhabitants were short of hand; they were shattered and ashamed. They became grass of the field and green vegetation, grass of roofs and a field scorched before it rises.
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But I know your sitting, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.
29
Because your raging against Me and your arrogance have come up into My ears, I shall place My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I shall turn you back by the way in which you came.’
30
And this shall be the sign to you: this year, eat what grows from itself; and in the second year, what springs from the same. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31
And the escaped remnant of the House of Yehudah shall again take root downward and produce fruit upward.
32
For from Yerushalayim a remnant shall go out, and those who escaped from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of Yahuah of Hosts shall do this.
33
Therefore thus says Yahuah concerning the king of Ashshur: “He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a siege mound against it.
34
By the way in which he came, by it he shall return; and into this city he shall not enter,” declares Yahuah.
35
“For I shall defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of Daviyd My servant.”
36
And the messenger of Yahuah went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Ashshur. And when they rose early in the morning, see, all of them were dead corpses.
37
And Sancheriv king of Ashshur departed and went, and returned, and dwelt in Nineveh.
38
And it came to pass, while he was bowing himself in the house of Nisrok his elohim, that Adrammelekh and Saretzer his sons struck him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-Chaddon his son reigned in his place.