Yeshayahu 37 ישעיהו ל״ז

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

And he sent Elyaqim, who was over the household, and Shevna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Yesha῾yahu the prophet the son of Amoż.

And they said to him, Thus says Ḥizqiyyahu, This day is a day of trouble, and of reviling, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Ravshaqe, whom the king of Ashshur his master has sent to taunt the living God, and to revile with words as the Lord thy God has heard: wherefore send up a prayer for the remnant that is left.

So the servants of king Ḥizqiyyahu came to Yesha῾yahu.

And Yesha῾yahu said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Ashshur have blasphemed me.

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

So Ravshaqe returned, and found the king of Ashshur warring against Livna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lakhish.

And he heard say concerning Tirhaqa king of Kush, He is come out to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ḥizqiyyahu, saying,

Thus shall you speak to Ḥizqiyyahu king of Yehuda, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Yerushalayim shall not be given into the hand of the king of Ashshur.

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

Have their gods delivered those nations which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Ḥaran, and Reżef, and the children of ῾Eden who were in Telassar?

Where is the king of Ḥamat, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sefarvayim, Hena, and ῾Ivva?

And Ḥizqiyyahu took the letters from the hands of the messengers, and read them: and Ḥizqiyyahu went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

And Ḥizqiyyahu prayed to the Lord, saying,

O Lord of hosts, God of Yisra᾽el that sittest upon the keruvim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the king­doms of the earth: Thou hast made heaven and earth.

Bend Thy ear, O Lord, and hear: open Thy eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sanĥeriv, which he has sent to taunt the living God.

Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Ashshur have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,

and 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.

Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only.

Then Yesha῾yahu the son of Amoż sent to Ḥizqiyyahu, saying, Thus says the Lord God of Yisra᾽el, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sanĥeriv king of Ashshur.

This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: The virgin, the daughter of Żiyyon, despises thee, and laughs thee to scorn; the daughter of Yerushalayim tosses her head at thee.

Whom hast thou taunted and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? against the Holy One of Yisra᾽el.

By thy servants hast thou taunted the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Levanon; and I have cut down its tall cedars, its choice cypresses: and I will enter into its farthest height, its deepest forest.

I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the canals of Mażor.

Hast 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 fortified cities should be laid waste into ruinous heaps.

Therefore 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 housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

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

Because thy rage against me, and thy confidence is come up to my ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou didst come.

And this shall be a sign to thee, you shall eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year that which springs of the same: and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Yehuda shall again take root downwards, and bear fruit upwards:

for out of Yerushalayim shall a remnant go out, and they that escape out of mount Żiyyon: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Ashshur, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor throw a mound against it.

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.

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

Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of Ashshur a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

So Sanĥeriv king of Ashshur departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineve.

And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisrokh his god, that Adrammelekh and Shar᾽eżer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat: and Esar-ĥaddon his son reigned in his stead.