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1 | And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent
his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into
the house of the LORD. |
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2 | And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with
sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. |
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3 | And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day
of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are
come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. |
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4 | It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of
Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to
reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the
LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the
remnant that are left. |
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5 | So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. |
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6 | And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master,
Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou
hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria
have blasphemed me. |
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7 | Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a
rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him
to fall by the sword in his own land. |
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8 | So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring
against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from
Lachish. |
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9 | And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he
is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again
unto Hezekiah, saying, |
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10 | Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not
thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem
shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. |
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11 | Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to
all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be
delivered? |
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12 | Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers
have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the
children of Eden which were in Thelasar? |
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13 | Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? |
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14 | And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house
of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. |
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15 | And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of
Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the
God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou
hast made heaven and earth. |
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16 | LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes,
and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent
him to reproach the living God. |
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17 | Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the
nations and their lands, |
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18 | And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods,
but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they
have destroyed them. |
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19 | Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us
out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that thou art the LORD God, even thou only. |
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20 | Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus
saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to
me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. |
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21 | This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The
virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed
thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head
at thee. |
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22 | Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom
hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even against the Holy One of Israel. |
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23 | By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast
said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the
height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut
down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees
thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders,
and into the forest of his Carmel. |
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24 | I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of
my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. |
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25 | Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of
ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to
pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into
ruinous heaps. |
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26 | Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were
dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field,
and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as
corn blasted before it be grown up. |
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27 | But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in,
and thy rage against me. |
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28 | Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into
mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my
bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by
which thou camest. |
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29 | And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year
such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that
which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and
reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. |
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30 | And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall
yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. |
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31 | For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that
escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall
do this. |
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32 | Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria,
He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there,
nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. |
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33 | By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. |
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34 | For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake,
and for my servant David's sake. |
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35 | And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD
went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred
fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. |
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36 | So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. |
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37 | And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote
him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia.
And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. |
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