18.34 All of these cities had earlier been captured by the Assyrians.
18.37 On tearing clothing, see note on 2.12.
2 KINGS 19
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
1When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has 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.” 5When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
Sennacherib’s Threat
8The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9When the kinga heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,b “See, he has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: “O LORD the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. 19So now, O LORD our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.”
20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
She despises you, she scorns you—
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.
22“Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
23By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest retreat,
its densest forest.
24I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’
25“Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
26while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
27“But I know your risingc and
your sitting, your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
28Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
29“And this shall be the sign for you: This year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 31for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
32“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 33By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the LORD. 34For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
35That very night the angel of the LORD set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 36Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 37As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.
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a Heb he
b Or Nubia; Heb Cush
c Gk Compare Isa 37.27 Q Ms: MT lacks rising
19.1–7 Hezekiah’s consultation of Isaiah during the crisis reflects the common practice of seeking divine guidance before or during military activities. See, e.g., 3.9–12; 1 Kings 22.1–12. Here the consultation is intended to be interpreted as a sign of the king’s piety.
19.1 On tearing clothing and wearing sackcloth, see notes on 2.12; 1 Kings 20.31.
19.2 Eliakim, Shebna. See note on 18.18.
19.3 The distress Hezekiah feels is due to the Assyrian threat, and the rebuke and disgrace are the result of the Rabshakeh’s taunts (18.19–35). Children…bring them forth. The proverb means that the critical moment for deliverance has arrived but that the participants themselves are not able to bring it into existence.
19.6 Isaiah’s oracle of salvation opens in typical style with an exhortation not to fear (see, e.g., Isa 7.4).
19.7 The spirit will deceive Sennacherib, although the oracle does not specify the nature of the rumor he will hear (cf. 1 Kings 22.20–23).
19.8–13 This report of Sennacherib’s second message to Hezekiah is taken by some scholars to be simply a variant of the report in 18.19–35. Other scholars see here evidence of a second Assyrian campaign, while still others take these verses as the second phase of the negotiations. The narrator clearly intends the last interpretation.
19.8 Libnah. See note on 8.22.
19.9 Tirhakah ruled Egypt (here called Ethiopia) ca. 690–664 BCE, so he must have been commander of the army rather than king when this incident occurred. This word of an imminent Egyptian attack may have been the rumor mentioned in v. 7.
19.10–13 The arguments advanced here summarize those in 18.19–35.
19.12–13 The cities mentioned were all places where populations had recently been displaced. Several of the cities were connected with the exile of the Northern Kingdom (cf. 17.6, 24).
19.14–34 In contrast to Hezekiah’s response to the first Assyrian visit (vv. 1–7), this time Hezekiah himself goes to the temple and prays to the Lord. The answer to the prayer then comes in the form of a second oracle from Isaiah.
19.15 Before the LORD implies that the king was before the ark within the holy of holies, an area where normally only priests were allowed to enter. Cherubim. See note on 1 Kings 6.23–28.
19.18 Gods, statues, usually made of wood, that represented the gods in many temples.
19.25–28 God here implies that the Assyrian victories are all part of a divine plan that has been in existence since the beginning of the world. Sennacherib is simply the tool God is using to punish the nations. However, because of the Assyrian king’s arrogant assumption that he is in control of the situation, God will thwart his efforts and make him return to his land. These themes are also found elsewhere in Isaiah’s prophecies (see, e.g., Isa 10.12–19; 14.24–27).
19.28 Hook in your nose…bit in your mouth. The king is compared to an animal that can be led wherever its owner wants it to go.
19.29 Isaiah’s sign does not indicate a rapid return to normal living conditions. It will take the land two years to recover from the ravages of the Assyrian invasion, and during that time the people will have to gather grain that grows naturally. Only in the third year will they be able to plant and reap a normal harvest.
19.35–37 In spite of many ingenious attempts from antiquity to the present day, there is no good way to rationalize the miraculous salvation of Jerusalem. The event is simply a dramatic fulfillment of Isaiah’s oracle of deliverance.
19.37 Nisroch, otherwise unknown. The name is probably a corruption of the name of one of the Mesopotamian deities. Land of Ararat, Urartu, modern Armenia. After a struggle over the succession, Esar-haddon came to the Assyrian throne in 681 and ruled until 669 BCE.
2 KINGS 20
Hezekiah’s Illness
1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD: 3“Remember now, O LORD, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 5“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” 7Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”
8Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?” 9Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: the shadow has now advanced ten intervals; shall it retreat ten intervals?” 10Hezekiah answered, “It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather let the shadow retreat ten intervals.” 11The prophet Isaiah cried to the LORD; and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the suna had declined on the dial of Ahaz.
Envoys from Babylon
12At that time King Merodach-baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13Hezekiah welcomed them;b he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 14Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah answered, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” 15He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 17Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 18Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”
Death of Hezekiah
20The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, all his power, how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 21Hezekiah slept with his ancestors; and his son Manasseh succeeded him.
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a Syr See Isa 38.8 and Tg: Heb it
b Gk Vg Syr: Heb When Hezekiah heard about them
20.1–11 The story of Hezekiah’s illness also exists in an expanded version in Isa 38.1–22. The incident is not assigned a specific date, but v. 6 seems to point forward to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. It is likely, then, that the story is out of place chronologically and should have preceded the narratives of chs. 18–19. The story is probably in its present position because of its link in v. 12 with the story of the visit from the messengers of Merodach-baladan. Whatever the reasons for the displacement of 20.1–11, its present position causes the healing to appear as a special favor for the king whose piety and fidelity to the Lord had saved Jerusalem during the Assyrian invasion.
20.4 Middle court, part of the royal palace.
20.5 On the third day indicates the end of a brief period of time (cf. Hos 6.1–2).
20.6 Here the king’s recovery and the salvation of Jerusalem from the Assyrians are linked together in the same prophecy.
20.7 The translation follows the Greek text, which suggests that Isaiah’s action set the healing process in motion but that the completion of the process still lay in the future. The Hebrew text reports that the healing took place immediately, thus rendering the following sign superfluous. In antiquity figs were thought to have healing properties.
20.8 The sign is intended to authenticate the prophecy and guarantee its fulfillment (cf. 1 Kings 13.3 and note).
20.9 For a similar sign involving the sun, see Josh 10.12–13.
20.11 Dial of Ahaz, a series of steps on which the movement of a shadow cast by the sun marked the hours.
20.12–19 The story of Hezekiah’s encounter with the messengers of Merodach-baladan also appears to be out of place in the history of Hezekiah’s reign. Merodach-baladan ruled Babylon between 722 and 710 BCE and then again briefly from 704 to 703, before Sennacherib deposed him. The visit to Hezekiah must have taken place well before the Assyrian invasion of 701 BCE and probably occurred during Merodach-baladan’s first term on the throne. The purpose of the visit was perhaps to encourage trade between Babylon and the west and to secure allies who might be useful in the future. The prophet Isaiah, who was generally opposed to all foreign alliances, opposed any sort of contact with the Babylonians. The compiler of Kings may have placed this negative story about Hezekiah in its present position in order to detract somewhat from the king’s reputation for piety. In this way Hezekiah would not overshadow the future achievements of Josiah, whom the narrator regarded as Judah’s greatest king.
20.17 In Isaiah’s oracle this interchange with the Babylonians becomes an explanation for the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile in 587/6 BCE.
; 20.20–21 The concluding summary of Hezekiah’s reign finally mentions one of his most impressive achievements, the construction of the Siloam tunnel. To provide Jerusalem with a secure water supply during a siege, the king cut a passage through 1,749 feet of solid rock to lead water from the Gihon spring outside the city to the pool of Siloam safely inside the walls. A wall inscription originally carved in the tunnel still exists to testify to his achievement.
2 KINGS 21
Manasseh Reigns over Judah
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, following the abominable practices of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 3For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal, made a sacred pole,a as King Ahab of Israel had done, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” 5He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6He made his son pass through fire; he practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever; 8I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land that I gave to their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9But they did not listen; Manasseh misled them to do more evil than the nations had done that the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
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