Bible Reading Plan – Day 186

₁As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the LORD. ₂He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth. ₃This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: “Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it. ₄The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the LORD your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive.”

₅When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message, ₆he sent back this answer: “The LORD tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you by their claims that he cannot save you. ₇The LORD will cause the emperor to hear a rumour that will make him go back to his own country, and the LORD will have him killed there.”

₈The Assyrian official learnt that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him. ₉Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah ₁₀of Judah to say to him, “The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you. ₁₁You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape? ₁₂My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them. ₁₃Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

₁₄King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the LORD, ₁₅and prayed, ₁₆“Almighty LORD, God of Israel, enthroned above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. ₁₇Now, LORD, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. ₁₈We all know, LORD, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, ₁₉and burnt up their gods — which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. ₂₀Now, LORD our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that you alone are God.”

₂₁Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer ₂₂the LORD had said, “The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and despises you. ₂₃Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel. ₂₄You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests. ₂₅You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the River Nile dry.

₂₆“Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble. ₂₇The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

₂₈“But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me. ₂₉I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth and will take you back by the road on which you came.”

₃₀Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, “This is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to sow your corn and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes. ₃₁Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit. ₃₂There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the LORD Almighty is determined to make this happen.

₃₃“This is what the LORD has said about the Assyrian emperor: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built round it. ₃₄He will go back by the road on which he came, without entering this city. I, the LORD, have spoken. ₃₅I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honour and because of the promise I made to my servant David.’ ”

₃₆An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! ₃₇Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. ₃₈One day when he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.

₁About this time King Hezekiah fell ill and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and said to him, “The LORD tells you that you are to put everything in order because you will not recover. Get ready to die.”

₂Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed: ₃“Remember, LORD, that I have served you faithfully and loyally, and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.” And he began to cry bitterly.

₄Then the LORD commanded Isaiah ₅to go back to Hezekiah and say to him, “I, the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will let you live fifteen years longer. ₆I will rescue you and this city of Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria, and I will continue to protect the city.”

₂₁ Isaiah told the king to put a paste made of figs on his boil, and he would get well. ₂₂Then King Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign to prove that I will be able to go to the Temple?”

₇Isaiah replied, “The LORD will give you a sign to prove that he will keep his promise. ₈On the stairway built by King Ahaz, the LORD will make the shadow go back ten steps.” And the shadow moved back ten steps.

₉After Hezekiah recovered from his illness, he wrote this song of praise:

₁About this time, the king of Babylonia, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had been ill, so he sent him a letter and a present. ₂Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them his wealth — his silver and gold, his spices and perfumes, and all his military equipment. There was nothing in his storerooms or anywhere in his kingdom that he did not show them. ₃Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did they come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah answered, “They came from a very distant country, from Babylonia.”

₄“What did they see in the palace?”

“They saw everything. There is nothing in the storerooms that I didn't show them.”

₅Isaiah then told the king, “The LORD Almighty says that ₆a time is coming when everything in your palace, everything that your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be carried off to Babylonia. Nothing will be left. ₇Some of your own direct descendants will be taken away and made eunuchs to serve in the palace of the king of Babylonia.”

₈King Hezekiah understood this to mean that there would be peace and security during his lifetime, so he replied, “The message you have given me from the LORD is good.”