1
And it came to pass, when King Chizqiyahu heard, that he tore his garments, and 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 the sons have come to the opening of the womb, but there is no strength to give birth.
4
Perhaps Yahuah your Elohim will hear all the words of Rav-Shaqeh, whom the king of Ashshur his master sent to reproach the living Elohim, and will rebuke the words that Yahuah your Elohim has heard. And you shall 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 because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Ashshur have 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 will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8
And Rav-Shaqeh returned and found the king of Ashshur fighting against Livnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lakhish.
9
And he heard concerning Tirhaqah king of Kush, saying: “See, he has gone out to fight against you.” And he returned and 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?
12
Did the elohim of the nations deliver those whom my fathers destroyed—Gozan, and Charan, and Retzef, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13
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 sefarim from the hand of the messengers and read them. And Chizqiyahu went up to the House of Yahuah and spread them before the face of Yahuah.
15
And Chizqiyahu prayed before the face of Yahuah and said: “Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el, who dwells between the keruvim, You alone are Elohim over all the Kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
16
Incline Your ear, Yahuah, and hear. Open Your eyes, Yahuah, and see. And hear the words of Sancheriv, which he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.
17
Truly, Yahuah, the kings of Ashshur have devastated the nations and their lands,
18
and have given their elohim into the fire, for they were not elohim, but the work of the hands of Adam—wood and stone—and they destroyed them.
19
And now, Yahuah our Elohim, please save us from his hand, that all the Kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Yahuah, are Elohim alone.”
20
And Yeshayahu son of Amotz sent to Chizqiyahu, saying: “Thus says Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el: ‘That which you prayed to Me concerning Sancheriv king of Ashshur, I have heard.’
21
This is the Word that Yahuah has spoken concerning him: “The virgin daughter of Tziyon despises you and mocks you. The daughter of Yerushalayim shakes her head behind you.
22
Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you lifted up your voice and raised your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Yisra’el.
23
By the hand of your messengers you have reproached Adonai, and you have said: ‘With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the remote parts of Levanon. And I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypress trees. And I will enter the lodging place of its border, the forest of its fruitful field.
24
I dug and drank foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Matzor.’
25
Have you not heard? From long ago I made it; from ancient days I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should cause fortified cities to fall into ruined heaps.
26
And their inhabitants were weak of hand; they were shattered and ashamed. They became as vegetation of the field and green grass, as grass upon the rooftops and scorched grain before it rises.
27
But your dwelling, and your going out, and your coming in, I know— and your raging against Me.
28
Because your raging against Me and your arrogance have come up into My ears, I will place My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will return you by the way that you came.”
29
And this shall be the sign for you: This year, eat what grows of itself; and in the second year, what springs from that; and in the third year, sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30
And the escaped remnant of the House of Yehudah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31
For from Yerushalayim shall go out a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of Yahuah of Hosts shall do this.
32
Therefore, thus says Yahuah concerning the king of Ashshur: “He shall not enter this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow there, and he shall not come before it with shield, and he shall not cast up a siege mound against it.
33
By the way that he came, by it he shall return, and into this city he shall not enter,” declares Yahuah.
34
“And I will defend this city to save it, for My sake and for the sake of Daviyd My servant.”
35
And it came to pass that night that the messenger of Yahuah went out and struck in the camp of Ashshur one hundred eighty-five thousand. And they rose early in the morning, and see, all of them were dead corpses.
36
And Sancheriv king of Ashshur departed and went and returned and dwelt in Nineveh.
37
And it came to pass, as he was bowing himself in the house of Nisrokh 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.