¹When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord ’s temple.

²He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:[#tn Heb “elders of the priests.”]

³“This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.[#tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him.”; #tn Or “rebuke,” “correction.”; #tn Or “contempt.”; #tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”]

⁴Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.’”[#tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”; #tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”; #tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”]

⁵When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah,

⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me.[#tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”]

⁷Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land.”’”[#tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh), “spirit,” is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.; #tn Heb “hear.”; #tn Heb “cause him to fall,” that is, “kill him.”]

⁸When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.[#tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”]

⁹The king heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:[#tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.; #tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘Look, he has come out to fight with you.’”]

¹⁰“Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”[#tn Heb “will not be given.”]

¹¹Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?[#tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”; #tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”]

¹²Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods?[#tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”]

¹³Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”[#sn Lair is a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.]

¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord ’s temple and spread it out before the Lord .[#tc The MT has the plural, “letters,” but the final mem is probably dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular.; #tc The MT has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”). The parallel passage in Isa 37:14 has the singular suffix.]

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the Lord : “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.[#sn This refers to the cherub images that were above the ark of the covenant.; #tn Or “the heavens.”]

¹⁶Pay attention, Lord , and hear! Open your eyes, Lord , and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God![#tn Heb “Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”]

¹⁷It is true, Lord , that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands.

¹⁸They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.[#tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”; #tn Heb “so they destroyed them.”]

¹⁹Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord , are the only God.”

²⁰Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria.[#tn Heb “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in the parallel passage in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense, “because.”]

²¹This is what the Lord says about him:[#tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”]

“The virgin daughter Zion

despises you, she makes fun of you;

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you.

²²Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted,

and looked so arrogantly?

At the Holy One of Israel!

²³Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,[#tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”]

‘With my many chariots

I climbed up the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars,

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions,

its thickest woods.

²⁴I dug wells and drank

water in foreign lands.

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

²⁵Certainly you must have heard![#tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.; #tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.]

Long ago I worked it out,

In ancient times I planned it;

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins.

²⁶Their residents are powerless,[#tn Heb “short of hand.”]

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field,

or green vegetation.

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops

when it is scorched by the east wind.

²⁷I know where you live,

and everything you do.

²⁸Because you rage against me,

and the uproar you create has reached my ears;

I will put my hook in your nose,

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back the way

you came.”

²⁹This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[#tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).; #tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.; #sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.; #tn Heb “and in the second year.”; #tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.]

³⁰Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.[#tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”]

³¹For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the sovereign Lord to his people will accomplish this.

³²So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here.

He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,

nor will he build siege works against it.

³³He will go back the way he came.

He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.

³⁴I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”[#tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”]

³⁵That very night the Lord ’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.[#tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.; #tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”]

³⁶So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[#tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”]

³⁷One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.[#sn The assassination probably took place in 681 b.c.; #sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name is a corruption of Nusku.; #tc Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib, it is supported by the Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions. Cf. Isa 37:38.; #sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.]