1 And it happened that, when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house {beit: sanctuary dwelling} of the LORD {YHWH, Holy King}.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the palace{bayit: royal residence}, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, all covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet{navi: one who proclaims divine message}.
3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah{khizqiyyahu: faithful king}: ‘A day of trouble, rebuke{tokechah: severe correction}, and disgrace is this day, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver.’”
4 Perhaps the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Defender} will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer on behalf of the remnant {she’erit: faithful survivors} that is found.
5 Then the servants of King Hezekiah {Hizqiyyahu: Faithful Ruler} came to Isaiah {Yeshayahu: Prophet of Deliverance}.
6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master: ‘Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Messenger}: Do not be afraid of the words {devarim: spoken threats} that you have heard, by which the young men of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.’”
7 Behold, I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} am about to place a spirit {ruach: driving influence} within him, and he will hear a report, and he will return to his land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 Rabshakeh {rav-shaqeh: Assyrian spokesman} returned and encountered the king of Assyria while he was fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had set out from Lachish {lakhish: siege fortress}.
9 And he heard that Tirhakah {tirhaqah: Cushite monarch}, king of Cush, had come out to fight against him, and when he heard this, he sent messengers {malakhim: official envoys} to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus you shall say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: “Do not let your God {Eloheicha, Personal Protector} deceive {yashiacha: mislead you} by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’”
11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria {ashur: imperial power} have done to all the lands, to destroy {charam: total annihilation} them utterly; and will you be delivered?
12 Did the gods {elohei: multitude of deities} deliver them whom my fathers destroyed {hishchitu: thorough devastation}—Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath {hamat: frontier fortress}, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim {sepharvaim: dual-city region}, Hena, and Ivah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letters {sefarim: formal written document} from the hand of the messengers, and he read them. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Defender} and spread them out before the LORD.
15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD {YHWH, Prayer Receiver}, saying {leʾmōr: introducing direct speech},
16 O LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Heavenly Commander}, God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Guardian}, who sits above the cherubim; You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.
17 Incline Your ear, O LORD {YHWH, Prayer Listener}, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living God {Elohim, Everlasting One}.
18 Truly, LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Witness}, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands {aratzot: inhabited territories}.
19 And they put their gods {elohim: false deities} in the fire, for they were not gods but only the work {ma’aseh: human craftsmanship} of human hands and wood and stone, so they destroyed them.
20 And now, LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu: Deliverer}, save {hoshi‘enu: to rescue, grant deliverance} us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are the LORD.
21 And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Hearer of Prayers}, ‘Because you have prayed {hitpallalta: earnest entreaty} to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.’”
22 This is the word which the LORD {YHWH, Divine Messenger} has spoken concerning him: the virgin, daughter of Zion, has despised you and mocked you; behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head {rosh: sign of contempt}.
23 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice {qol: vocal aggression} and lifted your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel {K’dosh Yisrael, Divine Sovereign}.
24 By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord {Adonai, Sovereign Judge}, and you said, “By the multitude of my chariotry I have ascended to the height of the mountains, to the remote parts of Lebanon; I will cut down the stature of its cedars and the choicest {mivchar: top-quality} of its cypresses, and I will come to the height of its extremity, the forest of its Carmel.”
25 I dug {qarti: excavated channel} and drank water, and with the sole of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt {matsor: Egypt}.
26 Have you not heard? Long ago I {YHWH, Sovereign Architect} did it; from days of old I formed {yatsar: shaped with purpose} it. Now I have brought it, and it has come to lay waste fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27 And their inhabitants were short of hand {kitzrei-yad: lacking strength}, and they were dismayed and put to shame; they were like the grass {esev: fleeting vegetation} of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the rooftops, and like grain scorched before it stands.
28 I have known your sitting, your going out {tzetekha: departures}, your coming in, and your raging against Me {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}.
29 Because your rage against Me and your arrogance {shaanan-kha: careless self-confidence} have come to My ears, I will put My hook {khakhi: instrument of restraint} in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came.
30 And this shall be the sign for you: You will eat what grows of itself this year {safiach: self-sown growth} and what springs up in the second year from the roots. But in the third year you will sow {zirʿû: sowing} and reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 And the remnant {peleitat: escapees} of the house of Judah who has survived will again take root {shoresh: source of nourishment} downward and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant {she’erit: post-judgment survivors} will go forth, and a survivor from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tzevaot, Divine Warrior} will accomplish this.
33 Therefore thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Defender} concerning the king of Assyria: he will not come into this city, nor will he shoot an arrow there, nor will he confront it with a shield {magen: protective weapon}, nor will he cast up a siege mound against it.
34 By the way {derekh: path of action} that he came, by it he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, declares the LORD {YHWH, Divine Oracle}.
35 And I {YHWH, Defender} will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant {avdi: personal covenant relationship}.
36 And the angel of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Warrior} went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead bodies {pegarim: lifeless corpses}.
37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria set out, went away, returned {vayashav: tactical withdrawal}, and dwelt in Nineveh {Ninveh: Assyrian capital}.
38 And it came to pass while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch {nisrokh: Assyrian royal deity} his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him {hikuhu: murdered violently} with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.