2Kings:19

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* When King Hezekiah heard their report he tore his clothes in grief . He dressed in sackcloth and went to the Temple of Jehovah . * He sent Eliakim the official in charge of the palace , Shebna the court secretary , and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah , son of Amoz . They also were dressed in sackcloth . * They said to him : »This is what Hezekiah says : ‘Today is a day filled with misery , punishment , and disgrace . We are like a woman who is about to give birth but does not have the strength to do it . * »‘The Assyrian emperor sent his chief official to insult the living God . May Jehovah your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them . So pray to God for those of our people who survive .’« * King Hezekiah 's men went to Isaiah . * Isaiah responded to them : »Tell this to your master : ‘This is what Jehovah says : »Do not be afraid of the message you heard when the Assyrian king 's assistants slandered me . * »I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own country . I will have him assassinated in his own country .« ’« * The field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah . He had heard that the king left Lachish . * Sennacherib heard that King Tirhakah of Sudan was coming to fight him . Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah , saying : * »Tell King Hezekiah of Judah : ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria . * »‘You heard what the kings of Assyria did to all countries . They totally destroyed them . Will you be rescued ? * »‘Did the gods of the nations that my ancestors destroyed rescue Gozan , Haran , Rezeph , and the people of Eden who were in Telassar ? * »‘Where is the king of Hamath ? Where is the king of Arpad ? And where is the king of the cities of Sepharvaim , Hena , and Ivvah ?’« * Hezekiah read the letters from the messengers . Then he went to Jehovah ’s Temple and shared them with Jehovah . * He prayed : »Jehovah of Hosts , God of Israel , you are enthroned above the angels . You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth . You made heaven and earth . * »Turn your ear to me , O Jehovah , and listen . Open your eyes , Jehovah , and see . Listen to the message Sennacherib sent to defy the living God . * »It is true Jehovah . The kings of Assyria have devastated nations . * »They threw the gods from these countries into fires because these gods are not real gods . They are only wooden and stone statues made by human hands . So the Assyrians have destroyed them . * »Rescue us from Assyria 's control , O Jehovah our God , so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you alone are Jehovah God .« * Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah : »This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says : ‘You prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria . I have heard you . * »This is Jehovah ’s message to Sennacherib : ‘My people , the virgin daughter of Zion , despise you and laugh at you . My people in Jerusalem shake their heads behind your back . * »‘Whom are you defying and slandering ? Against whom are you shouting ? Who are you looking at so arrogantly ? It is the Holy One of Israel ! * »‘You defy Jehovah and through your servants you say : ‘With my many chariots I ride up the high mountains , up the slopes of Lebanon . I cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypresses . I travel to its most distant borders and its most fertile forests . * »‘I will dig wells and drink foreign water . I will dry up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet .’« * »Have you not heard ? I did this long ago . I planned it in the past . Now I make it happen so that you will turn fortified cities into piles of rubble . * »The inhabitants of these cities are weak , discouraged , and ashamed . They will be like plants in the field , like fresh green grass on the roofs , scorched before it grows up . * »I know when you get up and sit down . I know when you go out and come in . I know how you rage against me . * »Since you rage against me and you boast in my ears , I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth . I will make you go back the way you came . * »This will be a sign for you , Hezekiah : You will eat what grows by itself this year and next year . But in the third year you will plant and harvest , plant vineyards , and eat what is produced . * »The remnant in Judah who survives will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit . * »There will be a remnant of people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive . Jehovah is determined to make this happen . * »This is what Jehovah said about the Assyrian king : ‘He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it . No soldiers with shields will come near the city . No siege mounds will be built around it .’ * »He will go back by the same road he came . He will not enter the city . I , Jehovah , have spoken !« * I will defend this city and protect it . It is for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David . * It happened that night . Jehovah ’s angel killed one hundred and eighty five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp . The next morning the Judeans saw all the corpses . * King Sennacherib of Assyria returned to his home at Nineveh and stayed there . * While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch , Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him . They escaped to the land of Ararat . His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king .

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