2 Kings 19 – NIV & CCBT

New International Version

2 Kings 19:1-37

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

5When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ ”

8When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,19:9 That is, the upper Nile region was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ 11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

17“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall

20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. 21This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

“ ‘Virgin Daughter Zion

despises you and mocks you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head as you flee.

22Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

23By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,

“With my many chariots

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.

I have reached its remotest parts,

the finest of its forests.

24I have dug wells in foreign lands

and drunk the water there.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

25“ ‘Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained it.

In days of old I planned it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.

26Their people, drained of power,

are dismayed and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,

like grass sprouting on the roof,

scorched before it grows up.

27“ ‘But I know where you are

and when you come and go

and how you rage against me.

28Because you rage against me

and because your insolence has reached my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will make you return

by the way you came.’

29“This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year sow and reap,

plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah

will take root below and bear fruit above.

31For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.

“The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

32“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“ ‘He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield

or build a siege ramp against it.

33By the way that he came he will return;

he will not enter this city,

declares the Lord.

34I will defend this city and save it,

for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’ ”

35That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)

列王紀下 19:1-37

希西迦向以賽亞求助

1希西迦王聽了就撕裂衣服,披上麻衣,進入耶和華的殿。 2他派身披麻衣的宮廷總管以利亞敬、書記舍伯那和祭司中的長者去見亞摩斯的兒子以賽亞先知, 3對他說:「希西迦說,『今天是遭難、蒙羞、受辱的日子,就像嬰兒要出生,產婦卻無力生產一樣。 4亞述王派他的將軍來辱罵永活的上帝,也許你的上帝耶和華聽見那些話,就會懲罰他。所以,請你為我們這些剩下的人禱告。』」 5希西迦王的臣僕說完這些話後, 6以賽亞對他們說:「告訴你們主人,耶和華這樣說,『你不要因亞述王的僕人那些褻瀆我的話而害怕。 7我必驚動19·7 驚動」希伯來文是「使靈進入」。亞述王的心,讓他聽見一些風聲後便返回本國,在那裡死於刀下。』」

希西迦向上帝禱告

8亞述的將軍聽說亞述王已離開拉吉,便回去見王,發現王在攻打立拿9亞述王聽說古實特哈加正前來攻打他,便再次派使者去對希西迦說: 10「不要讓你所倚靠的上帝愚弄你,說什麼耶路撒冷必不會被亞述王攻陷。 11你肯定聽過亞述諸王掃滅列國的事,難道你能倖免嗎? 12我先祖毀滅了歌散哈蘭利色提·拉撒伊甸人,這些國家的神明救得了他們嗎? 13哈馬王、亞珥拔王、西法瓦音城的王、希拿王和以瓦王如今在哪裡呢?」

14希西迦從使者手中接過信,讀完後走進耶和華的殿,在耶和華面前展開信, 15禱告說:「坐在二基路伯天使之上、以色列的上帝耶和華啊,唯有你是天下萬國的上帝,你創造了天地。 16耶和華啊,求你側耳垂聽!耶和華啊,求你睜眼察看!求你聽聽西拿基立派使者來辱罵永活上帝的話。 17耶和華啊,亞述諸王確實掃滅列國,使其土地荒涼, 18把列國的神像丟在火中。因為那些神像只是人用木頭石頭製造的,根本不是神。 19我們的上帝耶和華啊,現在求你從亞述王手中拯救我們,讓天下萬國都知道唯有你是耶和華。」

以賽亞給希西迦的信息

20亞摩斯的兒子以賽亞派人告訴希西迦:「以色列的上帝耶和華說,『我已經聽見你關於亞述西拿基立的禱告。 21以下是耶和華對他的判語,

錫安的居民藐視你,嘲笑你;

耶路撒冷的居民朝你逃竄的背影搖頭。

22你在侮辱、褻瀆誰呢?

你不放在眼裡、

高聲罵的是誰呢?

以色列的聖者!

23你藉你的使者辱罵主,

你說你率領許多戰車上到群山之巔,

上到黎巴嫩的巔峰,

砍下最高的香柏樹和上好的松樹,

征服最高的山和最美的樹林。

24你自誇已在外邦之地挖井取水,

已用腳掌踏乾埃及的河流。

25『難道你不知道這是我在太初所定、

在亙古就籌畫好的嗎?

如今我實現了所定的計劃——

藉著你使堅城淪為廢墟。

26城中的居民軟弱無力,

驚慌失措,羞愧難當,

脆弱如野草和菜蔬,

又像還未長大就被曬焦的房頂草。

27『你起你坐,你出你進,

你向我發怒,我都知道。

28因為你向我發怒,

你狂傲的話達到了我耳中,

我要用鉤子鉤住你的鼻子,

把嚼環放在你嘴裡,

使你原路返回。』

29希西迦啊,我要賜給你們一個兆頭,你們今年要吃野生的,明年也要吃自然生長的,後年要播種收割,栽種葡萄園,吃園中的果子。 30猶大的倖存者要再次向下扎根,向上結果。 31因為將有餘民從耶路撒冷出來,有倖存者從錫安山出來。耶和華必熱切地成就這事。

32「至於亞述王,耶和華說,『他必不能進這城或向這裡射一箭,必不能手持盾牌兵臨城下或修築攻城的高臺。 33他從哪條路來,也將從哪條路回去,他必進不了這城。這是耶和華說的。 34我必為自己和我僕人大衛而保護、拯救這城。』」

35當晚,耶和華的天使到亞述營中殺了十八萬五千人。人們清早起來,發現到處是屍體。 36亞述西拿基立便拔營回國,住在尼尼微37一天,亞述王在他的神明尼斯洛的廟裡祭拜時,他的兩個兒子亞得米勒沙利色用刀殺了他,逃往亞拉臘。他的另一個兒子以撒哈頓繼位。