Sennacherib besieges Hezekiah.

II. KINGS.

Samaria is carried captive.

ah, (that is,the ninth year of Hoshea king horses, if thou be able on thy part to set of Israel,)Samaria was taken. riders upon them.

11 And the king of Assyria did carry 24 How then wilt thou turn away the away Israel unto Assyria, and put them face of one captain of the least of my masin Halah and in Habor by the river of Go-ter's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt zan, and in the cities of the Medes: for chariots and for horsemen?

25 Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land,

12 Because they obeyed not the voice! of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would and destroy it. not hear them, nor do them.

26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hi

13 T Now in the fourteenth year of king kiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto RabHezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy ser come up against all the fenced cities of vants in the Syrian language; for we unJudah, and took them. derstand it: and talk not with us in the

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent Jews' language in the ears of the people to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, that are on the wall.

I have offended; return from me: that 27 But Rab-shakeh said unto them, which thou puttest on me I will bear. Hath my master sent me to thy master, And the king of Assyria appointed unto and to thee, to speak these words? hath he Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred not sent me to the men which sit on the talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. wall, that they may eat their own dung, 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the sil- and drink their own piss with you? ver that was found in the house of the LORD, 28 Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried and in the treasures of the king's house. with a loud voice in the Jews' language,

16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off and spake, saying, Hear the word of the the gold from the doors of the temple of great king, the king of Assyria: the LORD, and from the pillars which 29 Thus saith the king, Let not HezeHezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and kiah deceive you: for he shall not be able gave it to the king of Assyria. to deliver you out of his hand :

17 T And the king of Assyria sent Tar- 30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust tan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from in the LORD, saying, The LORD will sureLachish to king Hezekiah with a greatly deliver us, and this city shall not be dehost against Jerusalem: and they went livered into the hand of the king of Assyria. up, and came to Jerusalem: and when 31 Hearken not unto Hezekiah: for they were come up, they came and stood thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an by the conduit of the upper pool, which is agreement with me by a present, and come in the highway of the fuller's field.

18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn 19 And Rab-shakeh said unto them, and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith a land of oil-olive and of honey, that ye the great king, the king of Assyria, What may live, and not die: and hearken not confidence is this wherein thou trustest? unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, 20 Thou sayest, (but they are but vain saying, The LORD will deliver us. words,)I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

21 Now behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

35 Who are they among all the gods of 22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the countries that have delivered their the LORD our God: is not that he whose country out of my hand, that the LORD high places and whose altars Hezekiah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? hath taken away, and hath said to Judah 36 But the people held their peace, and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before and answered him not a word for the this altar in Jerusalem? king's commandment was, saying, An

23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give swer him not. pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, 37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hiland I will deliver thee two thousand kiah, which was over the household, and

Hezekiah mourns.

CHAP. XIX.

Hezekiah's prayer Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the their clothes rent, and told him the words LORD and said, O LORD God of Israel, of Rab-shakeh. which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all

CHAP. XIX.

AND it came to pass, when king He- the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made

zekiah heard it, that he rent his heaven and earth.

clothes, and covered himself with sack- 16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: cloth, and went into the house of the LORD. open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear 2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent the household, and Shebna the scribe, and him to reproach the living God. the elders of the priests, covered with 17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of syria have destroyed the nations and their Amoz. lands,

3 And they said unto him, Thus saith 18 And have cast their gods into the Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, fire: for they were no gods, but the work and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the of men's hands, wood and stone: therechildren are come to the birth, and there fore they have destroyed them.

is not strength to bring forth.

19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I

4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the that all the kingdoms of the earth may king of Assyria his master hath sent to re- know that thou art the LORD God, even proach the living God; and will reprove thou only. the words which the LORD thy God hath 20 T Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the to Hezekiab, saying, Thus saith the LORD remnant that are left. God of Israel, That which thou hast pray5 So the servants of king Hezekiah ed to me against Sennacherib king of Ascame to Isaiah. syria I have heard.

6 ¶ And Isaiah said unto them, Thus 21 This is the word that the LORD hath shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the spoken concerning him; The virgin the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and thou hast heard, with which the servants laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, 22 Whom hast thou reproached and and he shall hear a rumour, and shall re- blasphemed? and against whom hast thou turn to his own land; and I will cause him exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes to fall by the sword in his own land. on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 8 T So Rab-shakeh returned, and found 23 By thy messengers thou hast rethe king of Assyria warring against Lib-proached the LORD, and hast said, With nah: for he had heard that he was depart- the multitude of my chariots I am come ed from Lachish. up to the height of the mountains, to the 9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out tall cedar-trees thereof, and the choice to fight against thee: he sent messengers fir-trees thereof: and I will enter into the again unto Hezekiah, saying, lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

25 Hast thou not heard long ago how I 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the have done it, and of ancient times that I kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by have formed it? now have I brought it to destroying them utterly and shalt thou pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste be delivered? fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

12 Have the gods of the nations de- 26 Therefore their inhabitants were of livered them which my fathers have de- small power, they were dismayed and stroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Re- confounded; they were as the grass of the zeph, and the children of Eden which were field, and as the green herb, as the grass on in Thelasar?. the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read 28 Because thy rage against me and it and Hezekiah went up into the house thy tumult is come up into mine

Sennacherib slain by his sons

II. KINGS

The sun goes backward. therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, years; and I will deliver thee and this and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn city out of the hand of the king of Assythee back by the way by which thou camest. ria; and I will defend this city for mine 29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Ye shall eat this year such things as grow 7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. of themselves, and in the second year that And they took and laid it on the bile, and which springeth of the same; and in the he recovered.

third year sow ye, and reap, and plant 8 ¶ And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. What shall be the sign that the LORD will 30 And the remnant that is escaped of heal me, and that I shall go up into the the house of Judah shall yet again take house of the LORD the third day? root downward, and bear fruit upward. 9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth have of the LORD, that the LORD will do a remnant, and they that escape out of the thing that he hath spoken: shall the mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back shall do this. ten degrees? 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD con- 10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a ligh cerning the king of Assyria, He shall not thing for the shadow to go down ten decome into this city, nor shoot an arrow grees: nay, but let the shadow return there, nor come before it with shield, nor backward ten degrees. cast a bank against it. 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto 33 By the way that he came, by the the LORD: and he brought the shadow same shall he return, and shall not come ten degrees backward, by which it had into this city, saith the LORD. gone down in the dial of Ahaz. 12T At that time Berodach-baladan,

34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent David's sake. letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

37 And it came to pass. as he was wor- 14 ¶ Then came Isaiah the prophet unshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, to king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons said these men? and from whence came smote him with the sword: and they they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, escaped into the land of Armenia. And They are come from a far country, even Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead. from Babylon.

CHAP. XX.

15 And he said, What have they seen N those days was Hezekiah sick unto in thy house? And Hezekiah answerthings

of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, have they seen there is nothing among Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in my treasures that I have not shewed them. order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, Hear the word of the LORD. and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

17 Behold, the days come, that all that

3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember is in thy house, and that which thy fanow how I have walked before thee in thers have laid up in store unto this day, truth and with a perfect heart, and have shall be carried into Babylon: nothing done that which is good in thy sight. And shall be left, saith the LORD.

Hezekiah wept sore.

18 And of thy sons that shall issue from

4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they gone out into the middle court, that the take away; and they shall be eunuchs in word of the LORD came to him, saying, the palace of the king of Babylon.

5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the 19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, Good is the word of the LORD which thou the God of David thy father, I have hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: if peace and truth be in my days? behold, I will heal thee: on the third day 20 T And the rest of the acts of Heze. thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. kiah, and all his might, and how he made 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen a pool, and a conduit, and brought water