2nd Kings — 19

Hazakyahu Seeks YAHUAH’s Help

1 When King Hazakyahu heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. 

2 And he sent Aliakim the palace administrator, Shabna the court secretary, and the leading Kuhanym, all dressed in burlap, to the Nabym Yashayahu son of Amuz. 

3 They told him, “This is what King Hazakyahu says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and dishonored. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 

4 But perhaps 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH your  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”

5 After King Hazakyahu’s officials delivered the king’s message to Yashayahu, 

6 the Nabym replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against ME from the Assyrian king’s messengers. 

7 Listen! I Myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”

8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Yahushalam and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.

9 Soon afterward King Sannacharib received word that King Tirhakah of Athiupia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hazakyahu in Yahushalam with this message:

10 “This message is for King Hazakyahu of Yahudah. Do not let your 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Yahushalam will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 

11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 

12 Have the idols of other nations rescued them, such nations as Guzan, Haran, Razaph, and the people of Adan who were in Tal-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 

13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sapharbaim, Hana, and Ibbah?”

14 After Hazakyahu received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s Temple and spread it out before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. 

15 And Hazakyahu prayed this prayer before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH: “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH,  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, you are enthroned between the mighty charubim! You alone are 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of all the kingdoms of the Arath. You alone created the Shamaym and the Arath. 

16 Bend down, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, and listen! Open your eyes, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, and see! Listen to Sannacharib’s words of defiance against the living 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH.

17 “It is true, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 

18 And they have thrown the idols of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not AL'Mighty at all, only idols of wood and stone shaped by man's hands. 

19 Now, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH our  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the Arath will know that you alone, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, are 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH.”

Yashayahu Predicts Yahudah’s Deliverance

20 Then Yashayahu son of Amuz sent this message to Hazakyahu: “This is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, Dabar: I have heard your prayer about King Sannacharib of Assyria. 

21 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has Dabar this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Ziun    despises you and laughs at you, the daughter of Yahushalam shakes her head in derision as you flee.

22 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Qadash One of Yashar'AL!

23 By your messengers you have defied  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains yes, the remotest peaks of Labanun. I have cut down its tallest cedars    and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests.

24 I have dug wells in many foreign lands    and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot I stopped up all the rivers of Mitzraym!’

25 “But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.

26 That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.

27 “But I know you well, where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me.

28 And because of your raging against me    and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came.”

29 Then Yashayahu said to Hazakyahu, “Here is the proof that what I say is true: “This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 And you who are left in Yahudah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and will grow up and flourish.

31 For a remnant of my people will spread out from Yahushalam, a group of survivors from Mount Ziun. The passionate commitment of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Tsaba'ut will make this happen!

32 “And this is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar  about the king of Assyria: “his armies will not enter Yahushalam. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls.

33 The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came, he will not enter this city, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.

34 For my own honor and for the sake of my servant Daud, I will defend this city and protect it.”

35 That night the Malak of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 

36 Then King Sannacharib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land, he went home to his capital of Ninabah and stayed there.

37 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his idol Nisruch, his sons Adrammalach and Sharazar killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Asarhaddun, became the next king of Assyria.