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[1]And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇.
[2]And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
[3]And they said unto him: 'Thus saith Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
[4]It may be 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the words which 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 thy God hath heard; wherefore make prayer for the remnant that is left.'
[5]So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
[6]And Isaiah said unto them: 'Thus shall ye say to your master: Thus sait 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
[7]Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'
[8]So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
[9]And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia: 'Behold, he is come out to fight against thee'; he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying:
[10]'Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not thy God in whom thou trustest beguile thee, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
[11]Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
[12]Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?
[13]Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?'
[14]And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, and spread it before 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇.
[15]And Hezekiah prayed before 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, and said: 'O 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth.
[16]Incline Thine ear, O 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, and hear; open Thine eyes, O 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to taunt the living God.
[17]Of a truth, 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
[18]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.
[19]Now therefore, O 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 our God, save Thou us, I beseech Thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 God, even Thou only.'
[20]Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: 'Thus saith 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇, the God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard thee.
[21]This is the word that 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
[22]Whom hast thou taunted and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? Yea, thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel!
[23]By the messengers thou hast taunted the Lord, and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I have cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice cypresses thereof; and I have entered into his farthest lodge, the forest of his fruitful field.
[24]I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.
[25]Hast thou not heard? long ago I made it, in ancient times I fashioned it; now have I brought it to pass, yea, it is done; that fortified cities should be laid waste into ruinous heaps.
[26]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 is grown up.
[27]But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against Me.
[28]Because of thy raging against Me, and for that thy tumult is come up into Mine 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 camest.
[29]And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
[30]And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
[31]For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape; the zeal of 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 of hosts shall perform this.
[32]Therefore thus saith 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it.
[33]By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇.
[34]For I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake.'
[35]And it came to pass that night, that the angel of 𐤉𐤇𐤅𐤇 went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
[36]So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
[37]And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sarezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
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