2 Kings 19
Open in the reader1On hearing this report, King He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of He-Who-Is.
2And he sent God-Will-Establish the palace administrator, Growth the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Salvation-of-He-Who-Is son of Strong
3to tell him, “This is what He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
4Perhaps He-Who-Is your God will hear all the words of the Chief-Cupbearer, whom his master the king of Successful has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that He-Who-Is your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
5So the servants of King He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened went to Salvation-of-He-Who-Is,
6who replied, “Tell your master that this is what He-Who-Is says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Successful have blasphemed Me.
7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
8When the Chief-Cupbearer heard that the king of Successful had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Whiteness.
9Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened, saying,
10“Give this message to He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened king of Praised: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Foundation-of-Peace will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Successful.
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Successful have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
12Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Parched, and Rezeph, and of the people of Delight in Telassar?
13Where are the kings of Fortress, Spread-Out, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14So He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of He-Who-Is and spread it out before He-Who-Is.
15And He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened prayed before He-Who-Is: “O He-Who-Is, God of Strives-with-God, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
16Incline Your ear, O He-Who-Is, and hear; open Your eyes, O He-Who-Is, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
17Truly, O He-Who-Is, the kings of Successful have laid waste these nations and their lands.
18They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
19And now, O He-Who-Is our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O He-Who-Is, are God.”
20Then Salvation-of-He-Who-Is son of Strong sent a message to He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened: “This is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Successful.
21This is the word that He-Who-Is has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Marker despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Foundation-of-Peace shakes her head behind you.
22Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Devoted One of Strives-with-God!
23Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of White-Mountain. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
24I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Besieged-Land.”
25Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
26Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
27But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
28Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
29And this will be a sign to you, O He-Who-Is-Has-Strengthened: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30And the surviving remnant of the house of Praised will again take root below and bear fruit above.
31For a remnant will go forth from Foundation-of-Peace, and survivors from Mount Marker. The zeal of He-Who-Is of Hosts will accomplish this.
32So this is what He-Who-Is says about the king of Successful: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
33He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares He-Who-Is.
34I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant Beloved.’”
35And that very night the messenger of He-Who-Is went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
36So Sennacherib king of Successful broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Great-City and stayed there.
37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon reigned in his place.