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Isaiah 36:1-22
(1) In the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified
cities of Judah and captured them. (2) Then the king of Assyria
sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah
at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper
Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field, (3) Eliakim son of
Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of
Asaph the recorder went out to him.
(4) The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah,
"'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are
you basing this confidence of yours? (5) You say you have strategy
and military strength — but you speak only empty words. On whom are you
depending, that you rebel against me? (6) Look now, you are
depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a
man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of
Egypt to all who depend on him. (7) And if you say to me,
"We are depending on Yahweh our God" — isn't he the one whose high
places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You
must worship before this altar"? (8) "'Come now, make a
bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two
thousand horses — if you can put riders on them! (9) How
then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials,
even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
(10) Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land
without Yahweh? Yahweh himself told me to march against this country and
destroy it.'"
(11) Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander,
"Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't
speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall."
(12) But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and
you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men
sitting on the wall — who, like you, will have to eat their own filth
and drink their own urine?"
(13) Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, "Hear the
words of the great king, the king of Assyria! (14) This is
what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver
you! (15) Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in
Yahweh when he says, 'Yahweh will surely deliver us; this city will not
be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
(16) "Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria
says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will
eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
(17) until I come and take you to a land like your own — a land of
grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
(18) "Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, 'Yahweh will
deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the
hand of the king of Assyria? (19) Where are the gods of
Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued
Samaria from my hand? (20) Who of all the gods of these
countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can Yahweh
deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
(21) But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply,
because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him."
(22) Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna
the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with
their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said. |
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2 Kings 18:13-37
(13) In the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified
cities of Judah and captured them. (14) So Hezekiah king of Judah
sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong.
Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of
Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of
silver and thirty talents of gold. (15) So Hezekiah gave him all
the silver that was found in the temple of Yahweh
and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
(16) At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold
with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of Yahweh,
and gave it to the king of Assyria.
(17) The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief
officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King
Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the
aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. (18)
They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace
administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder
went out to them.
(19) The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah:
"'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are
you basing this confidence of yours? (20) You say you have
strategy and military strength-but you speak only empty words. On whom
are you depending, that you rebel against me? (21) Look now,
you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which
pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh
king of Egypt to all who depend on him. (22) And if you say
to me, "We are depending on Yahweh our God"-isn't
he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to
Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
(23) "'Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of
Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses-if you can put riders on
them! (24) How can you repulse one officer of the least of
my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for
chariots and horsemen? (25) Furthermore, have I come to
attack and destroy this place without word from Yahweh?
Yahweh himself told me to march against this
country and destroy it.'"
(26) Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the
field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we
understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people
on the wall."
(27) But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and
you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men
sitting on the wall-who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and
drink their own urine?"
(28) Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: "Hear the
word of the great king, the king of Assyria! (29) This is
what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver
you from my hand. (30) Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to
trust in Yahweh when he says, 'Yahweh
will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the
king of Assyria.'
(31) "Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria
says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will
eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
(32) until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of
grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees
and honey. Choose life and not death!
"Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says,
'Yahweh will deliver us.' (33) Has the
god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of
Assyria? (34) Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where
are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria
from my hand? (35) Who of all the gods of these countries
has been able to save his land from me? How then can Yahweh
deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
(36) But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply,
because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him."
(37) Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna
the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with
their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said. |
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2 Chronicles 32:1-19
(1) After all that Hezekiah had so
faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He
laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for
himself. (2) When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he
intended to make war on Jerusalem, (3) he consulted with his
officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the
springs outside the city, and they helped him. (4) A large
force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream
that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and
find plenty of water?" they said. (5) Then he worked hard
repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it.
He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting
terraces of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and
shields.
(6) He appointed military officers over the people and assembled
them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with
these words: (7) "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid
or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with
him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. (8)
With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is Yahweh
our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained
confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.
(9) Later, when Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces
were laying siege to Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with
this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah
who were there:
(10) "This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are
you basing your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
(11) When Hezekiah says, 'Yahweh our God
will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,' he is misleading
you, to let you die of hunger and thirst. (12) Did not
Hezekiah himself remove this god's high places and altars, saying to
Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship before one altar and burn
sacrifices on it'? (13) "Do you not know what I and my
fathers have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods
of those nations ever able to deliver their land from my hand?
(14) Who of all the gods of these nations that my fathers
destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your
god deliver you from my hand? (15) Now do not let Hezekiah
deceive you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of
any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand
or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your god deliver you from
my hand!"
(16) Sennacherib's officers spoke further against Yahweh
God and against his servant Hezekiah. (17) The king also
wrote letters insulting Yahweh, the God of Israel,
and saying this against him: "Just as the gods of the peoples of the
other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of
Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand." (18) Then
they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the
wall, to terrify them and make them afraid in order to capture the city.
(19) They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the
gods of the other peoples of the world-the work of men's hands. |
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