2 Kings 19

All 37 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1When King Hezekiah heard what had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2. 2He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, along with Shebna the court secretary and the senior priests — all wearing sackcloth — to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3. 3They told him, "Hezekiah says: 'Today is a day of distress, disgrace, and blasphemy. We are like a woman in labor who doesn't have the strength to deliver her child.
4. 4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
5. 5When King Hezekiah's servants arrived, they came to Isaiah.
6. 6Isaiah told them, "Say this to your master: 'The LORD says: Don't be afraid of the words you heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.'"
7. 7Look, I will send a blast upon him, and he will hear a rumour and return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8. 8Meanwhile, the Rabshakeh left and found the king of Assyria attacking Libnah, because he had heard that the king had moved on from Lachish.
9. 9Then Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. So he sent messengers to Hezekiah again with this message:
10. 10"Tell King Hezekiah of Judah: 'Don't let the God you trust in fool you by promising that Jerusalem won't fall to the king of Assyria.
11. 11You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, completely destroying them. Will you be delivered?
12. 12Did the gods of those nations rescue them? My ancestors destroyed Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Thelasar.
13. 13Where is the king of Hamath now? Or the king of Arpad? Or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena, or Ivah?'"
14. 14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
15. 15Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim — you alone are God over every kingdom on earth. You made heaven and earth.
16. 16LORD, incline your ear and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to reproach the living God.
17. 17It's true, LORD — the kings of Assyria have devastated nation after nation and laid waste to their lands.
18. 18They threw those nations' gods into the fire. But those weren't real gods — they were just wood and stone shaped by human hands. That's why they could be destroyed.
19. 19So now, LORD our God, I beg you — save us from Sennacherib's grip, so that every kingdom on earth will know that you, LORD, are God alone."
20. 20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "The LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I have heard your prayer about Sennacherib king of Assyria.
21. 21Here is what the LORD has declared about him: The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you.
22. 22Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your arrogant eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23. 23Through your messengers you have reproached the LORD and said: 'With my many chariots, I have come to the heights of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedar trees and its choice fir trees. I will enter its farthest lodging places and the forest of its Carmel.'
24. 24I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters, and with the soles of my feet, I have dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25. 25Haven't you heard? Long ago I planned it, and in ancient times I designed it. Now I have brought it to pass, so that you would turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
26. 26Their people were powerless, dismayed, and confounded. They were like grass in a field, like green herbs, like grass on rooftops, and like corn that is blasted before it grows up.
27. 27But I know everything about you — where you live, when you come and go, and how you rage against me.
28. 28Because your rage against me and your uproar have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came.
29. 29"And this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat whatever grows on its own. In the 2nd year, you'll eat what springs up from that. But in the 3rd year, you will plant and harvest, tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
30. 30The survivors from the house of Judah will once again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31. 31A remnant will come out of Jerusalem, and survivors will emerge from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will make this happen.
32. 32"So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: 'He will not enter this city. He will not shoot a single arrow here. He will not advance against it with shields or build a siege ramp against it.
33. 33He will go back the same way he came. He will not set foot in this city,' declares the LORD.
34. 34I will defend this city and save it — for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.
35. 35That night, the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early in the morning, they saw that all 185,000 were dead bodies.
36. 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp, withdrew, and went back to live in Nineveh.
37. 37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his own sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword. They escaped to the land of Armenia, and his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.