Sennacherib's Invasion of Judah

Free Bible Version (FBV)

2Ki 18:13–37

13 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked and conquered all the fortified towns of Judah in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah.
14 So Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent a message to the king of Assyria who was at Lachish, saying, “I've made a terrible mistake! Please retreat and leave me alone, and I'll pay you whatever you want!” The king of Assyria demanded Hezekiah, king of Judah, pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 Hezekiah paid him using all the silver from the Lord's Temple and the treasuries of the royal palace.
16 He even stripped the gold he had used to overlay the doors and doorposts of the Lord's Temple and gave everything to the king of Assyria.
17 Even so, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his head officer, and his army general, along with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They approached Jerusalem and made camp beside the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to where laundry is washed.
18 They called for the king. Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went out to speak with them.
19 The Assyrian army general said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in that gives you such confidence?
20 You say you have a strategy and are ready for war, but these are empty words. Who are you relying on, now that you have rebelled against me?
21 Now look! You're trusting in Egypt, a walking stick that's like a broken reed that will cut the hand of anyone leaning on it. That's what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is like to everyone who trusts in him.
22 If you tell me, ‘We're trusting in the Lord our God,’ well didn't Hezekiah remove his high places and his altars, telling Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You have to worship at this altar in Jerusalem’?
23 Why don't you accept a challenge from my master, the king of Assyria? He says, I'll give you two thousand horses, if you can find enough riders for them!
24 How could you defeat even a single officer in charge of the weakest of my master's men when you're trusting in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25 More than that—would I have come to attack this pace without the Lord's encouragement? It was the Lord himself who told me, ‘Go and attack this land and destroy it.’”
26 Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, together with Shebnah and Joah, said to the army general, “Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.”
27 But the army general replied, “Did my master only send me to say these things to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall? They too, just like you, are going to have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine!”
28 Then the army general shouted out in Hebrew, “Listen to this from the great king, the king of Assyria!
29 This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah trick you! He can't save you from me!
30 Don't believe Hezekiah when he tells you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘I'm certain the Lord will save us. This city will never fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
31 Don't listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king says: Make a peace treaty with me and surrender to me. That way everyone will eat from their own vine and their own fig tree, and drink water from their own well!
32 I will come and take you to a land that's like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. But don't listen to Hezekiah, for he's tricking you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’
33 Have any of the gods of any nation ever saved their land from the power of the king of Assyria?
34 Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Were they able to save Samaria from me?
35 Which one of all the gods of these countries has saved their land from me? How then could the Lord save Jerusalem from me?”
36 But the people remained silent and didn't say anything, for Hezekiah had given the order, “Don't answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they told him what the Assyrian army general had said.

2Ch 32:1–19

1 After Hezekiah's faithful work, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded Judah and attacked its fortified towns, planning to conquer them for himself.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to attack Jerusalem,
3 he talked with his army commanders about blocking up the water sources that lay outside the city. This is what they did.
4 They directed a large group of workers to block all the springs as well as the stream flowing nearby. “Why should the kings of Assyria come here and find plenty of water?” they asked.
5 Hezekiah set to work and rebuilt all the parts of the wall that had fallen down and constructed towers on it. He also built another wall outside the first wall. He reinforced the Millo in the city of David. He also made a large quantity of weapons and shields.
6 Hezekiah put army commanders in charge of the people. Then he summoned the people to gather in the square at the city gate. He spoke to them confidently, telling them,
7 “Be strong and be brave! Don't be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria with his large army, for there are more with us than with him.
8 He has human help, but we have the Lord God on our side to help us and fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by this speech of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
9 Some time later, when Sennacherib was attacking the town of Lachish with his armies, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah, king of Judah, and for everyone from Judah living there.
10 “This is what Sennacherib, king of Assyria, says. What are you going to trust in to help you survive when I come to attack Jerusalem?
11 Can't you see that in reality Hezekiah is telling you to die from starvation and thirst when he tells you, ‘The Lord our God will save us from the king of Assyria’?
12 Wasn't it Hezekiah who destroyed the high places and altars of this god and told Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this one altar, and offer sacrifices on it alone’?
13 Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the nations of the earth? None of their gods could save them or their lands from me!
14 Which one of all these gods of these nations that my fathers destroyed has been able to save them from me? So why would you think your god can save you from me?
15 So don't let Hezekiah fool you, and don't let him mislead you like this. Don't trust him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save their people from me or from my fathers. So it's even less possible for your god to save you from me!”
16 Sennacherib's officers continued criticizing the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah.
17 Sennacherib also wrote letters insulting the Lord, the God of Israel, taunting him by saying, “In the same way the gods of the nations did not save their people from me, so the god of Hezekiah will not save his people from me either.”
18 The Assyrians also shouted this out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem standing on the wall to frighten and to terrify them so that the city would be surrendered.
19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem like they did about the gods of the other nations, gods made by human beings.

Isa 36:1–22

1 In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked and conquered all the fortified towns of Judah.
2 The king of Assyria sent his army general, along with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field.
3 Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went out to speak with him.
4 The Assyrian army general said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in that gives you such confidence?
5 You say you have a strategy and are ready for war, but these are empty words. Who are you relying on, now that you have rebelled against me?
6 Now look! You're trusting in Egypt, a walking stick that's like a broken reed that will cut the hand of anyone leaning on it. That's what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is like to everyone who trusts in him.
7 If you tell me, ‘We're trusting in the Lord our God,’ well didn't Hezekiah remove his high places and his altars, telling Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You have to worship at this altar in Jerusalem’?
8 Why don't you accept a challenge from my master, the king of Assyria? He says, I'll give you two thousand horses, if you can find enough riders for them!
9 How could you defeat even a single officer in charge of the weakest of my master's men when you're trusting in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 More than that—would I have come to attack this place without the Lord's encouragement? It was the Lord himself who told me, ‘Go and attack this land and destroy it.’”
11 Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah, said to the army general, “Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.”
12 But the army general replied, “Did my master only send me to say these things to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall? They too, just like you, are going to have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine!”
13 Then the army general shouted out in Hebrew, “Listen to this from the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah trick you! He can't save you!
15 Don't believe Hezekiah when he tells you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘I'm certain the Lord will save us. This city will never fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
16 Don't listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king says: Make a peace treaty with me and surrender to me. That way everyone will eat from their own vine and their own fig tree, and drink water from their own well!
17 I will come and take you to a land that's like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 But don't let Hezekiah trick you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have any of the gods of any nation ever saved their land from the power of the king of Assyria?
19 Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? Were they able to save Samaria from me?
20 Which one of all the gods of these countries has saved their land from me? How then could the Lord save Jerusalem from me?”
21 But the people remained silent and didn't say anything, for Hezekiah had given the order, “Don't answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they told him what the Assyrian army general had said.