1 Tendo o rei Ezequias ouvido isto, rasgou as suas vestes, cobriu-se de pano de saco e entrou na Casa do Senhor. 2 Então, enviou a Eliaquim, o mordomo, a Sebna, o escrivão, e os anciãos dos sacerdotes cobertos de pano de saco, ao profeta Isaías, filho de Amoz; 3 os quais lhe disseram: Assim diz Ezequias: Este dia é dia de angústia, de disciplina e de opróbrio; porque filhos são chegados à hora de nascer, e não há força para dá-los à luz. 4 Porventura, o Senhor, teu Deus, terá ouvido todas as palavras de Rabsaqué, a quem o rei da Assíria, seu senhor, enviou para afrontar o Deus vivo, e repreenderá as palavras que ouviu; ergue, pois, orações pelos que ainda subsistem. 5 Foram, pois, os servos do rei Ezequias a ter com Isaías; 6 Isaías lhes disse: Dizei isto a vosso senhor: Assim diz o Senhor: Não temas por causa das palavras que ouviste, com as quais os servos do rei da Assíria blasfemaram de mim. 7 Eis que meterei nele um espírito, e ele, ao ouvir certo rumor, voltará para a sua terra; e nela eu o farei cair morto à espada.
8 Voltou, pois, Rabsaqué e encontrou o rei da Assíria pelejando contra Libna; porque ouvira que o rei já se havia retirado de Laquis. 9 O rei ouviu que a respeito de Tiraca, rei da Etiópia, se dizia: Eis saiu para guerrear contra ti. Assim, tornou a enviar mensageiros a Ezequias, dizendo: 10 Assim falareis a Ezequias, rei de Judá: Não te engane o teu Deus, em quem confias, dizendo: Jerusalém não será entregue nas mãos do rei da Assíria. 11 Já tens ouvido o que fizeram os reis da Assíria a todas as terras, como as destruíram totalmente; e crês tu que te livrarias? 12 Porventura, os deuses das nações livraram os povos que meus pais destruíram, Gozã, Harã e Rezefe e os filhos de Éden, que estavam em Telassar? 13 Onde está o rei de Hamate, e o rei de Arpade, e o rei da cidade de Sefarvaim, de Hena e de Iva?
14 Tendo Ezequias recebido a carta das mãos dos mensageiros, leu-a; então, subiu à Casa do Senhor, estendeu-a perante o Senhor 15 e orou perante o Senhor, dizendo: Ó Senhor, Deus de Israel, que estás entronizado acima dos querubins, tu somente és o Deus de todos os reinos da terra; tu fizeste os céus e a terra.
16 Inclina, ó Senhor, o ouvido e ouve; abre, Senhor, os olhos e vê; ouve todas as palavras de Senaqueribe, as quais ele enviou para afrontar o Deus vivo.
17 Verdade é, Senhor, que os reis da Assíria assolaram todas as nações e suas terras 18 e lançaram no fogo os deuses deles, porque deuses não eram, senão obra de mãos de homens, madeira e pedra; por isso, os destruíram. 19 Agora, pois, ó Senhor, nosso Deus, livra-nos das suas mãos, para que todos os reinos da terra saibam que só tu és o Senhor Deus.
20 Então, Isaías, filho de Amoz, mandou dizer a Ezequias: Assim diz o Senhor, o Deus de Israel: Quanto ao que me pediste acerca de Senaqueribe, rei da Assíria, eu te ouvi, 21 e esta é a palavra que o Senhor falou a respeito dele: A virgem, filha de Sião, te despreza e zomba de ti; a filha de Jerusalém meneia a cabeça por detrás de ti. 22 A quem afrontaste e de quem blasfemaste? E contra quem alçaste a voz e arrogantemente ergueste os olhos? Contra o Santo de Israel. 23 Por meio dos teus mensageiros, afrontaste o Senhor e disseste: Com a multidão dos meus carros subi ao cimo dos montes, ao mais interior do Líbano; deitarei abaixo os seus altos cedros e seus ciprestes escolhidos, chegarei a suas pousadas extremas, ao seu denso e fértil pomar. 24 Eu mesmo cavei, e bebi as águas de estrangeiros, e com as plantas de meus pés sequei todos os rios do Egito. 25 Acaso, não ouviste que já há muito dispus eu estas coisas, já desde os dias remotos o tinha planejado? Agora, porém, as faço executar e eu quis que tu reduzisses a montões de ruínas as cidades fortificadas. 26 Por isso, os seus moradores, debilitados, andaram cheios de temor e envergonhados; tornaram-se como a erva do campo, e a erva verde, e o capim dos telhados, e o cereal queimado antes de amadurecer. 27 Mas eu conheço o teu assentar, e o teu sair, e o teu entrar, e o teu furor contra mim. 28 Por causa do teu furor contra mim e porque a tua arrogância subiu até aos meus ouvidos, eis que porei o meu anzol no teu nariz e o meu freio na tua boca e te farei voltar pelo caminho por onde vieste.
29 Isto te será por sinal: este ano, se comerá o que espontaneamente nascer e, no segundo ano, o que daí proceder; no terceiro ano, porém, semeai, e colhei, e plantai vinhas, e comei os seus frutos. 30 O que escapou da casa de Judá e ficou de resto tornará a lançar raízes para baixo e dará fruto por cima; 31 porque de Jerusalém sairá o restante, e do monte Sião, o que escapou. O zelo do Senhor fará isto.
32 Pelo que assim diz o Senhor acerca do rei da Assíria: Não entrará nesta cidade, nem lançará nela flecha alguma, não virá perante ela com escudo, nem há de levantar tranqueiras contra ela. 33 Pelo caminho por onde vier, por esse voltará; mas, nesta cidade, não entrará, diz o Senhor. 34 Porque eu defenderei esta cidade, para a livrar, por amor de mim e por amor de meu servo Davi.
35 Então, naquela mesma noite, saiu o Anjo do Senhor e feriu, no arraial dos assírios, cento e oitenta e cinco mil; e, quando se levantaram os restantes pela manhã, eis que todos estes eram cadáveres. 36 Retirou-se, pois, Senaqueribe, rei da Assíria, e se foi; voltou e ficou em Nínive. 37 Sucedeu que, estando ele a adorar na casa de Nisroque, seu deus, Adrameleque e Sarezer, seus filhos, o feriram à espada; e fugiram para a terra de Ararate; e Esar-Hadom, seu filho, reinou em seu lugar.
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.
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.
3 And they said to him, Thus said 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.
4 It may be the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD your God has heard: why lift up your prayer for the remnant that are left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus said the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast on him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against you: he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
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?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
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.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwell between the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16 LORD, bow down your ear, and hear: open, LORD, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living God.
17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men' hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech you, save you us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD God, even you only.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus said the LORD God of Israel, That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have reproached the LORD, and have 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.
24 I have dig and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25 Have you 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 you should be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
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.
27 But I know your stayed, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.
28 Because your rage against me and your tumult is come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29 And this shall be a sign to you, You shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
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.
32 Therefore thus said 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.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, said the LORD.
34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David' sake.
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.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelled 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 Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.