The Divided Kingdom

Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, and hear; open, O Jehovah, Thine eyes, and see; and hear Thou the words of Sennacherib with which he hath sent him to reproach the living God.

`Truly, O Jehovah, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations, and their land,

and have put their gods into fire, for they are no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and destroy them.

And now, O Jehovah our God, save us, we pray Thee, out of his hand, and know do all kingdoms of the earth that Thou art Jehovah God--Thyself alone.'

And Isaiah son of Amoz sendeth unto Hezekiah, saying, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed unto Me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur I have heard:

this is the word that Jehovah spake concerning him: `Trampled on thee--laughed at thee, Hath the virgin daughter of Zion Behind thee shaken the head--Hath the daughter of Jerusalem?

Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes--Against the Holy One of Israel!

By the hand of thy messengers Thou hast reproached the Lord, and sayest: In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains--The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the lodging of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.

I have digged, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.

Hast thou not heard from afar, it I made, From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, And it becometh a desolation, Ruinous heaps are fenced cities,

And their inhabitants are feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn--before it hath risen up!

And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thine anger towards Me;

Because of thine anger towards Me, And thy noise--it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And have caused thee to turn back, In the way in which thou camest.

And this to thee is the sign, Food of the year is the spontaneous growth, And in the second year the self-produced, And in the third year sow ye, and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

And it hath continued--The escaped of the house of Judah That hath been left--to take root beneath, And hath made fruit upward.

For from Jerusalem goeth out a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion; The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts doth this.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield. Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.

In the way that he cometh in--In it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, The affirmation of Jehovah--

And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'

And it cometh to pass, in that night, that a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred eighty and five thousand, and they rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them are dead corpses.

And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeyeth, and goeth, and turneth back, and dwelleth in Nineveh;

and it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adramelech and Sharezar his sons have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.

In those days hath Hezekiah been sick unto death, and come unto him doth Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, and saith unto him, `Thus said Jehovah: Give a charge to thy house, for thou art dying, and dost not live.'

And he turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah, saying,

`I pray Thee, O Jehovah, remember, I pray Thee, how I have walked habitually before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that which is good in Thine eyes I have done;' and Hezekiah weepeth--a great weeping.