13In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,*18:13 The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was 701 b.c. King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.
17Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff*18:17a Or the rabshakeh; also in 18:19, 26, 27, 28, 37. from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.*18:17b Or bleached.
19Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
22“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
23“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!
26Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,*18:26 Hebrew in the dialect of Judah; also in 18:28. for the people on the wall will hear.”
27But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
28Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!
31“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’
36But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
37Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord.
5After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah,
8Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia*19:9 Hebrew of Cush. was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10“This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.
14After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord.
17“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations.
20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
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 Holy One of Israel!
23By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest corners
and explored its deepest forests.
24I 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 Egypt!’
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.
26That 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.
28And 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.”
29Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “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.
30And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
and will grow up and flourish.
31For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies*19:31 As in Greek and Syriac versions, Latin Vulgate, and an alternate reading of the Masoretic Text (see also Isa 37:32); the other alternate reads the Lord.
will make this happen!
32“And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
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.
33The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,
says the Lord.
34For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.”
35That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians*19:35 Hebrew When they. woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
37One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons*19:37 As in Greek version and an alternate reading of the Masoretic Text (see also Isa 37:38); the other alternate reading lacks his sons. Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
1After saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes and then went to Patara.
4We went ashore, found the local believers,*21:4 Greek disciples; also in 21:16. and stayed with them a week. These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem.
7The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters*21:7 Greek brothers; also in 21:17. and stayed for one day.
10Several days later a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea.
13But he said, “Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”
15After this we packed our things and left for Jerusalem.
1Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.
2O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.
O people of Jerusalem,*149:2 Hebrew Zion. exult in your King.
3Praise his name with dancing,
accompanied by tambourine and harp.
4For the Lord delights in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.
Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.
6Let the praises of God be in their mouths,
and a sharp sword in their hands—
7to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8to bind their kings with shackles
and their leaders with iron chains,
9to execute the judgment written against them.
This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!
8Rumors are dainty morsels
that sink deep into one’s heart.