2Kgs 19
1
And it came to pass when king Ezekias heard it, that he rent his clothes, and put
on sackcloth, an went into the house of the Lord.
2
And he sent Heliakim the steward, and Somnas the scribe, and the elders of the priests,
clothed with Gr. sackclothes sackcloth, to Esaias the prophet the son of Amos.
3
And they said to him, Thus says Ezekias, This day is a day of tribulation, and rebuke,
and provocation: for the children are come to the travail-pangs, but the mother has
no strength.
4
Gr. if by any means Peradventure the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rapsakes, whom the king
of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God and to revile him with the
words which the Lord your God has heard: and you shall Gr. take offer your prayer for the remnant that is found.
5
So the servants of king Ezekias came to Esaias.
6
And Esaias said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Be
not afraid of the words which you have heard, wherewith the servants of the king of
the Assyrians have blasphemed.
7
Behold, I Gr. give send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a report, and shall return to his own land;
and I will overthrow him with the sword in his own land.
8
So Rapsakes returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Lobna: for he
heard that he had departed from Lachis.
9
And he heard concerning Tharaca king of the Ethiopians, saying, Behold, he is come
forth to fight with you: and he returned, and sent messengers to Ezekias, saying,
10
Let not your God on whom you trust encourage you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered
into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.
11
Behold, you have heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done in all the lands,
to Gr. curse them, q. d. devoted to destruction waste them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
12
Have the gods of the nations at all delivered them, whom my fathers destroyed; both
Gozan, and Charran, and Raphis, and the sons of Edem who were in Thaesthen?
13
Where is the king of Haemath, and the king of Arphad? and where is the king of the
city of Seppharvaim, of Ana, and Aba?
14
And Ezekias took Gr. the books the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read Gr. them it: and he went up to the house
of the Lord, an Ezekias spread it before the Lord,
15
and said, O Lord God of Israel that dwell over the cherubs, you are the only god in
all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear: open, Lord, your eyes, and see: and hear the words
of Sennacherim, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
17
For truly, Lord, the kings of Gr. the Assyrians Assyria have wasted the nations,
18
and Gr. gave have cast their gods into the fire: because they are no gods, but the works of men’s
hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.
19
And now, O Lord our God, deliver us out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth
shall know that you alone art the Lord God.
20
And Esaias the son of Amos sent to Ezekias, saying, Thus says the Lord God of hosts,
the God of Israel, I have heard Lit. what things you have prayed your prayer to me concerning Sennacherim king of the Assyrians.
21
This is the word which the Lord has spoken against him; The virgin daughter of Sion
has made light of you, and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head
at you.
22
Whom have you reproached, and whom have you reviled? and against whom have you lifted
up your voice, and raised your eyes on high? Is it against the Holy One of Israel?
23
By Gr. by the hand of your messengers you has reproached the Lord, and have said, I will go up with the
multitude of my chariots, to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Libanus,
and I have cut down the Gr. bulk or size height of his cedar, and his choice cypresses; and I have come into the midst of
the forest and of Carmel.
24
I have Alex. reads efulaxa refreshed myself, and have drunk strange waters, and I have dried up with the sole
of my foot all the rivers of fortified places.
25
I have brought about the matter, I have brought it to a conclusion; and it is come
to the Gr. captivities destruction of the bands of warlike prisoners, even of strong cities.
26
And they that dwelt in them were weak in hand, they quaked and were confounded, they
became as grass of the field, or as the green herb, the grass growing on houses, and
that which is trodden down Or, before it stands up by him whom stands upon it.
27
But I know your Gr. seat down-sitting, and your going forth, and your rage against me.
28
Because you was angry against me, and your fierceness is come up into my ears, therefore
will I put my hooks in your nostrils, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn
you back by the way by which you came.
29
And this shall be a sign to you; eat this year the things that grow of themselves,
and in the second year the things which spring up: and in the third year let there
be sowing, and reaping, and planting of vineyards, and eat you the fruit of them.
30
And he shall Gr. add increase Alex. to diases oikon him whom has escaped of the house of Juda: and the remnant shall strike
root beneath,
and it shall produce fruit above.
31
For from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and he who escapes from the mountain
of Sion: the zeal of the Lord of host shall do this.
32
Is it not so? Thus says the Lord Or, of; Hebrew concerning the king of the Assyrians, He shall not enter into this city, and
he shall
not shoot Gr. a weapon an arrow there, neither shall a shield Gr. come against it beforehand, etc. come against it, neither
shall he heap a mound against it.
33
By the way by which he comes, by it shall he return, and he shall not enter into this
city, says the Lord.
34
And I will defend this city as with a shield, for my own sake, and for my servant
David’s sake.
35
And it came to pass at night that the angel of the Lord went forth, an smote in the
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand: and they rose early in the
morning, and, behold, these were all dead corpses.
36
And Sennacherim king of the Assyrians departed, and went and returned, and dwelt in
Nineve.
37
And it came to pass, while he was worshiping in the house of Meserach his god, that
Adramelech and Sarasar his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the
land of Ararath; and Asordan his son reigned in his stead.