2 Kings

And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

1King Hezekiah heard the report. He tore his clothes to show he was upset. He put on sackcloth, rough cloth people wore when they were sad. Then he went into the LORD's house, the temple.

2And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

2He sent Eliakim, the man in charge of the palace. He sent Shebna, the scribe who wrote things down. He sent some of the leading priests too. They all wore sackcloth. They went to Isaiah, a prophet, someone who told people what God said. Isaiah was the son of Amoz.

3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

3They said, "Hezekiah says this. Today is a day of trouble. We are being scolded and shamed. It is like a baby ready to be born. But there is no strength left to push."

4It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

4"Maybe the LORD your God heard what the Rabshakeh said. The king of Assyria, his master, sent him to insult the living God. Maybe the LORD will punish him for those words. So please pray for the few of us still left."

Note"Rabshakeh" is a job title, not a name. He was a chief officer of the king of Assyria.

5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

5So King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah.

6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

6Isaiah said, "Tell your master this. The LORD says, do not be afraid of the words you heard. The servants of Assyria's king said terrible things about me."

7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

7"Watch. I will put a spirit in him. He will hear a report and go back to his own land. There in his own land he will be killed with a sword."

8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

8The Rabshakeh heard that Assyria's king had left the town of Lachish. So he went back and found the king fighting against the town of Libnah.

9And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

9Then Sennacherib got news about Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia. People said, "Look, he is coming out to fight you." So Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah again. They said:

10Thus 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.

10"Say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah. Do not let your God trick you. He tells you that Jerusalem will not be handed over to Assyria's king."

11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

11"You have heard what the kings of Assyria did to other lands. They destroyed them completely. Do you really think you will be safe?"

12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

12"My fathers destroyed many nations. Did the gods of those nations save them? Think of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph. Think of the people of Eden who lived in Thelasar."

13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

13"Where is the king of Hamath now? Where is the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?"

14And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the LORD's house. He spread the letter open in front of the LORD.

15And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

15Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. He said, "LORD, God of Israel, you sit as king between the winged creatures called cherubim. You alone are God over every kingdom on earth. You made the heavens and the earth."

16LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

16"LORD, bend down and listen. Open your eyes, LORD, and look. Hear the words Sennacherib sent to insult the living God."

17Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

17"It is true, LORD. The kings of Assyria have wrecked those nations and their lands."

18And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

18"They threw the gods of those nations into the fire and burned them. Those gods were not real gods. They were only wood and stone made by human hands."

19Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

19"Now, LORD our God, please save us from his power. Then every kingdom on earth will know that you alone are God."

20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah. "The LORD, the God of Israel, says this. I have heard your prayer about Sennacherib, king of Assyria."

21This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

21"Here is what the LORD says about him. The daughter of Zion, the city of Jerusalem, is not afraid of you. She laughs at you. Jerusalem shakes her head at you as you go."

Note"Daughter of Zion" and "daughter of Jerusalem" are ways of speaking about the city of Jerusalem and the people who live in it.

22Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

22"Who have you insulted and mocked? Who did you shout at? Who did you look down on so proudly? The Holy One of Israel."

23By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

23"You sent your messengers to insult the Lord. You said, 'I came with my many chariots to the tops of the mountains. I climbed the far peaks of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedar trees and its finest fir trees. I reached its farthest camps and its thickest forests.'"

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

24"You said, 'I dug wells and drank water in lands not my own. I dried up every stream just by walking through it.'"

25Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

25"Have you not heard? I planned this long ago. In days long past I decided it. Now I have made it happen. That is why you can smash walled cities into piles of stones."

26Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

26"The people in those cities had no power left. They were scared and ashamed. They were like grass in a field, like soft green shoots. They were like grass on a roof, burned up before it grows."

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

27"But I know where you live. I know when you go out and when you come in. I know how angry you are with me."

28Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

28"Your anger and shouting against me have reached my ears. So I will put my hook in your nose. I will put my bit in your mouth. I will turn you back the way you came."

29And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

29"Hezekiah, here is a sign for you. This year you will eat food that grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. In the third year, plant seeds and gather the crop. Plant grapevines and eat their fruit."

30And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

30"Some people of Judah will still be alive. They will be like a plant. They will grow roots down deep and fruit up high."

31For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

31"A few people will come out of Jerusalem alive. Some will get away safely from Mount Zion. The strong love of the LORD of Hosts will make this happen. He is the LORD who leads heaven's armies."

32Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

32"So the LORD says this about the king of Assyria. He will not come into this city. He will not shoot even one arrow here. He will not come near it with a shield. He will not pile up dirt against its wall."

33By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

33"He will go back the way he came. He will not come into this city. That is what the LORD says."

34For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

34"I will guard this city and save it. I will do it for my own sake. I will do it for my servant David."

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

35That night the angel of the LORD went out. He struck the camp of the Assyrians. A hundred eighty-five thousand men died. When people got up early the next morning, all those bodies lay there dead.

NoteThe KJV says "an hundred fourscore and five thousand." A score means twenty, so this number is 185,000.

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

36So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, packed up and left. He went back home to the city of Nineveh and stayed there.

37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

37One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him there with a sword. Then they ran away to the land of Armenia. His son Esarhaddon became king after him.