Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance 1So it came to passe, that when king Hezekia hearde it, he rent his clothes, & put on sacke, & came into the house of the Lorde, 2And sent Eliakim which was the steward of the houshold, and Sobna the scribe, and the elders of the priestes clothed in sacke, to Isai the prophete, the sonne of Amoz. 3And they sayd vnto him, thus sayth Hezekia: This day is a day of tribulation, & of rebuke and blasphemie: For the children are come to the byrth, and there is no strength to be deliuered. 4Peraduenture the Lorde thy God will heare al the wordes of Rabsakeh, who the king of Assyria his maister hath sent to rayle on the lyuing God, & to rebuke him with wordes which the Lorde thy God hath hearde: And lift thou vp thy prayer for the remnaunt that are left. 5So the seruauntes of king Hezekia came to Isai. 6And Isai sayde vnto them, So shall ye say to your maister: Thus sayth the Lorde, Be not afrayde of the wordes which thou hast heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria haue rayled on me. 7Beholde, I will put hym in another mynde, and he shall heare tydinges, and so returne to his owne land, and I will bring to passe, that he shall fall vpon the sworde euen in his owne land. Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter 8And Rabsakeh went backe againe, and founde the king of Assyria fighting against Libna: for he had hearde howe that he was departed from Lachis. 9And when he hearde men say of Thirhaka king of the blacke Mores, Behold he is come out to fight against thee: he departed, and sent messengers vnto Hezekia, saying. 10Thus speake to Hezekia king of Iuda, saying: Let not thy God deceaue thee in whom thou trustest, saying: Hierusalem shall not be deliuered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Beholde, thou hast hearde what the kinges of Assyria haue done to all landes, how they haue vtterly destroyed them: And shalt thou escape? 12Haue the gods of the heathen deliuered them, whiche myne auncestours haue destroyed? As Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, the king of the citie of Sepharuaun, and of Hena and Iua? Hezekiah’s Prayer 14And Hezekia receaued the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: And Hezekia went vp into the house of the Lorde, and layde it abrode before the Lorde.
15And Hezekia prayed before the Lord, and sayd: O Lord God of Israel which dwellest betweene ye Cherubs, thou art God alone ouer al the kingdomes of the earth, thou hast made heauen & earth.
16Lorde bowe downe thyne eare, and heare: Open Lorde thyne eyes, Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied 20And Isai the sonne of Amoz sent to Hezekia, saying, Thus sayth the Lorde God of Israel: That whiche thou hast prayed me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, I haue hearde it.
21This is therefore the worde that the Lorde hath sayd of him: The virgin, euen the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorne
22Whom hast thou rayled on? and whom hast thou blasphemed? Against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce, and lyfted vp thyne eyes so hye? Euen against the holy of Israel.
23By the hande of thy messengers thou hast rayled on the Lord, and sayd: With the multitude of my charets I am come vp to the toppes of the mountaynes, euen along by the sides of Libanon, and I will cut downe the hye Cedar trees and the lusty fyrre trees therof: and I will go into the lodging of his borders, and into the wood of his Carmel.
24I haue digged and druncke straunge waters: & with the steppe of my goyng wil I drye al the water pooles that are besieged.
25Hast thou not heard howe I haue ordeyned such a thing a great whyle a go, and haue prepared it from the beginning? And shall I not nowe bring it foorth that it may destroy and bring strong cities into wast heapes of stones?
26And the inhabiters of them shalbe of litle power, and faynt hearted, and confounded, and shalbe lyke the grasse of the field, or greene hearbe, or as the hay on the toppes of the houses, or as the corne that is vnripe & smitten with blasting.
27I knowe thy dwelling, thy comming out and thy goyng in, and thy fury against me.
28And because thou ragest against me, & thy tumult is come vp to myne eares, I will put my hoke in thy nostrels, and my byt in thy lippes, and wil bring thee backe againe the same way thou camest.
29And this shalbe a signe vnto thee, O Hezekia: Ye shall eate this yere of such thinges as grow of them selues, and the next yere such as come vp of those that dyd growe of their owne accorde, and the thirde yere sowe ye and reape, plant vineyardes, and eate the fruites therof.
30And it that is escaped and left of the daughter of Iuda, shall yet againe take roting downewarde, and beare fruite vpwarde.
31For out of Hierusalem shall go a remnaunt and a number that shall escape out of mout Sion: The zeale of the lord of hoastes shal bring this thing to passe.
32Wherfore thus sayth the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: he shall not come to this citie, nor shote an arrowe into it, nor come before it with shielde, nor cast a banke against it.
33But shall go backe againe the way he came, and shall not come into this citie, sayth the Lorde.
34For I will defende this citie, to saue it, for myne owne sake, and for Dauid my seruauntes sake. Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians 35And it came to passe, that the selfe same night the angell of the Lorde went out, and smote in the hoast of the Assyrians an hundred fourescore & fyue thousand: And when the remnaunt were vp early in the morning, beholde they were all dead coarses.
36And so Sennacherib king of Assyria auoyded and departed, and went againe and dwelt at Niniue.
37And it fortuned, that as he was in a temple worshipping Nisroch his God, Adramelech & Saresar his owne sonnes smote hym with the sworde: And they escaped into the lande of Armenia, and Asarhaddon his sonne raigned in his steade. |
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