1 W hen King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

And it cometh to pass, at king Hezekiah's hearing, that he rendeth his garments, and covereth himself with sackcloth, and entereth the house of Jehovah,

2 A nd he sent Eliakim, who was over his household, Shebna the scribe, and the older priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

and sendeth Eliakim, who over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz,

3 T hey said to him, Hezekiah says: This is a day of distress, of rebuke and chastisement, and blasphemous and insolent insult; for children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.

and they say unto him, `Thus said Hezekiah -- A day of distress, and rebuke, and despising this day; for come have sons unto the birth, and power there is not to bring forth.

4 I t may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria has sent to mock, reproach, insult, and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. So raise your prayer for the remnant that is left.

`It may be Jehovah thy God doth hear all the words of the chief of the butlers with which the king of Asshur his lord hath sent him to reproach the living God, and hath decided concerning the words that Jehovah thy God hath heard, and thou hast lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found.'

5 S o the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

And the servants of king Hezekiah come in unto Isaiah,

6 I saiah said to them, Say to your master, Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled and blasphemed Me.

and Isaiah saith to them, `Thus do ye say unto your lord: Thus said Jehovah, Be not afraid because of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.

7 B ehold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.

Lo, I am giving in him a spirit, and he hath heard a report, and hath turned back to his land, and I have caused him to fall by the sword in his land.'

8 S o the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

And the chief of the butlers turneth back and findeth the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he hath heard that he hath journeyed from Lachish.

9 A nd Sennacherib king of Assyria heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come to make war against you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

And he heareth concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, `Lo, he hath come out to fight with thee;' and he turneth and sendeth messengers unto Hezekiah, saying,

10 S ay this to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not your God on Whom you rely deceive you by saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

`Thus do ye speak unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God lift thee up in whom thou art trusting, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

11 B ehold, you have heard what the Assyrian kings have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered?

Lo, thou hast heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands -- to devote them; and thou art delivered!

12 H ave the gods of the nations delivered those whom my ancestors have destroyed, as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed -- Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who in Thelassar?

13 W here are the kings of Hamath, of Arpad, of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

Where the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'

14 H ezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And he went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

And Hezekiah taketh the letters out of the hand of the messengers, and readeth them, and goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spreadeth it before Jehovah.

15 A nd Hezekiah prayed: O Lord, the God of Israel, Who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

And Hezekiah prayeth before Jehovah, and saith, `O Jehovah, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubs, Thou God Himself -- Thyself alone -- to all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made the heavens and the earth.

16 L ord, bow down Your ear and hear; Lord, open Your eyes and see; hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock, reproach, insult, and defy the living God.

Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, and hear; open, O Jehovah, Thine eyes, and see; and hear Thou the words of Sennacherib with which he hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17 I t is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste the nations and their lands

`Truly, O Jehovah, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations, and their land,

18 A nd have cast the gods of those peoples into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

and have put their gods into fire, for they no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and destroy them.

19 N ow therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and understand that You, O Lord, are God alone.

And now, O Jehovah our God, save us, we pray Thee, out of his hand, and know do all kingdoms of the earth that Thou Jehovah God -- Thyself alone.'

20 T hen Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

And Isaiah son of Amoz sendeth unto Hezekiah, saying, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed unto Me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur I have heard:

21 T his is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: The Virgin Daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the Daughter of Jerusalem has wagged her head behind you.

this the word that Jehovah spake concerning him: `Trampled on thee -- laughed at thee, Hath the virgin daughter of Zion Behind thee shaken the head -- Hath the daughter of Jerusalem?

22 W hom have you mocked and reviled and insulted and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes -- Against the Holy One of Israel!

23 B y your messengers you have mocked, reproached, insulted, and defied the Lord, and have said, With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees. I entered its most distant retreat, its densest forest.

By the hand of thy messengers Thou hast reproached the Lord, and sayest: In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains -- The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the lodging of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.

24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the streams of Egypt.

I have digged, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.

25 H ave you not heard how I ordained long ago what now I have brought to pass? I planned it in olden times, that you should lay waste fortified cities, making them ruinous heaps.

Hast thou not heard from afar, it I made, From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, And it becometh a desolation, Ruinous heaps fenced cities,

26 T hat is why their inhabitants had little power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were like plants of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetops, blasted before it is grown up.

And their inhabitants feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn -- before it hath risen up!

27 B ut I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against Me.

And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thine anger towards Me;

28 B ecause your raging against Me and your arrogance and careless ease have come to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came, O king of Assyria.

Because of thine anger towards Me, And thy noise -- it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And have caused thee to turn back, In the way in which thou camest.

29 A nd this shall be the sign to you: you shall eat this year what grows of itself, also in the second year what springs up voluntarily. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

And this to thee the sign, Food of the year the spontaneous growth, And in the second year the self-produced, And in the third year sow ye, and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

30 A nd the remnant that has survived of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

And it hath continued -- The escaped of the house of Judah That hath been left -- to take root beneath, And hath made fruit upward.

31 F or out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and a band of survivors out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.

For from Jerusalem goeth out a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion; The zeal of Jehovah doth this.

32 T herefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow here or come before it with shield or cast up a siege mound against it.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield. Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.

33 B y the way that he came, by that way shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.

In the way that he cometh in -- In it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, The affirmation of Jehovah --

34 F or I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.

And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'

35 A nd it all came to pass, for that night the Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185, 000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies.

And it cometh to pass, in that night, that a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred eighty and five thousand, and they rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them dead corpses.

36 S o Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.

And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeyeth, and goeth, and turneth back, and dwelleth in Nineveh;

37 A nd as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Armenia or Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

and it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adramelech and Sharezar have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.