Judah Delivered from Sennacherib

191 And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4 It may be Jehovah thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left. 5 And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master: Thus saith Jehovah: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit into him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return to his own land; and I will make him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 And Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he has come forth to make war with thee. And he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah saying: Let not thy God, upon whom thou reliest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations which my fathers have destroyed delivered them: Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said, Jehovah, God of Israel, who sittest [between] the cherubim, thou, the Same, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made the heavens and the earth. 16 Incline thine ear, Jehovah, and hear; open, Jehovah, thine eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent him to reproach the living God. 17 Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 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 have they destroyed them. 19 And now, Jehovah our God, I beseech thee, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou, Jehovah, art God, thou only.

20 And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: That which thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him: The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem shaketh her head at thee. 22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted the voice? Against the Holy one of Israel hast thou lifted up thine eyes on high. 23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots have I come up To the height of the mountain, to the recesses of Lebanon, And I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypresses; And I will enter into its furthest lodging-place, [into] the forest of its fruitful field. 24 I have digged, and have drunk strange waters, And with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the streams of Matsor. 25 Hast thou not heard long ago that I have done it? And that from ancient days I formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste fortified cities [into] ruinous heaps. 26 And their inhabitants were powerless, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were [as] the growing grass, and [as] the green herb, [As] the grass on the housetops, and grain blighted before it be grown up. 27 But I know thine abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, And thy raging against me. 28 Because thy raging against me and thine arrogance is come up into mine ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, And I will make thee go back by the way by which thou camest. 29 And this [shall be] the sign unto thee: They shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, And in the second year that which springeth of the same; But in the third year sow ye and reap, And plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. 30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And out of mount Zion they that escape: The zeal of Jehovah [of hosts] shall do this. 32 Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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. 33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, And shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah. 34 And I will defend this city, to save it, For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

35 And it came to pass that night, that an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. 36 And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and abode at Nineveh. 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 Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

The Reign of Jehoram of Israel

31 And Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. 2 And he wrought evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not like his father, and like his mother; and he took away the column of Baal that his father had made. 3 Only, he clave to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin: he did not depart therefrom.

Elisha Predicts Victory over Moab

4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. 5 And it came to pass when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

6 And at that time king Jehoram went out of Samaria and inspected all Israel. 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. 8 And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he said, By way of the wilderness of Edom. 9 And the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they made a circuit of seven days' journey. And there was no water for the army, and for the cattle that followed them. 10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! that Jehovah has called these three kings together, to give them into the hand of Moab! 11 And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah that we may inquire of Jehovah by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him, Not so, for Jehovah has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. 14 And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee. 15 And now fetch me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of Jehovah was upon him. 16 And he said, Thus saith Jehovah: Make this valley full of ditches. 17 For thus saith Jehovah: Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet this valley shall be filled with water, and ye shall drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. 18 And this is a light thing in the sight of Jehovah: he will give the Moabites also into your hand. 19 And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the oblation was offered up, that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. 21 And all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, and they were called together, all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood by the border. 22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun rose upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side red as blood. 23 And they said, This is blood: the kings are entirely destroyed, and have smitten one another; and now, Moab, to the spoil! 24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, and they fled before them; and they entered in and smote Moab. 25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone and filled it, and they stopped every well of water, and felled every good tree, until they left [only] the stones at Kirhareseth; and the slingers went about it, and smote it. 26 And the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, and he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 And he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to [their own] land.