Sennacherib Invades Judah

¹iAfter these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. ²And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, ³he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and jthe brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵He set to work resolutely and built up kall the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it,1 and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the lMillo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶And he set combat commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke mencouragingly to them, saying, ⁷n“Be strong and courageous. oDo not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, pfor there are more with us than with him. ⁸With him is qan arm of flesh, rbut with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Sennacherib Blasphemes

⁹After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Is not Hezekiah misleading you, that he may give you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ¹²sHas not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, “Before one altar you shall worship, and on it you shall burn your sacrifices”? ¹³Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵Now, therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!’”

¹⁶And his servants said still more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.” ¹⁸And they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.

The Lord Delivers Jerusalem

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with tshame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. ²²So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side. ²³And many ubrought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward.

Hezekiah's Pride and Achievements

²⁴vIn those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to the Lord, and he answered him and gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah wdid not make return according to the benefit done to him, for xhis heart was proud. Therefore ywrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶But Hezekiah zhumbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷And Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of acostly vessels; ²⁸storehouses also for the yield of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds. ²⁹He likewise provided cities for himself, and flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great possessions. ³⁰This same Hezekiah bclosed the upper outlet of the waters of cGihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹And so in the matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon, dwho had been sent to him to inquire about ethe sign that had been done in the land, God left him to himself, fin order to test him and to know all that was in his heart.

³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, behold, they are written gin the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, hin the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the iupper part of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

The Fall of Babylon

¹After this I saw nanother angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and othe earth was made bright with his glory. ²And he called out with a mighty voice,

p“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

She has become qa dwelling place for demons,

a haunt rfor every unclean spirit,

a haunt sfor every unclean bird,

a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

³For all nations have drunk1

tthe wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,

and uthe kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,

and vthe merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

w“Come out of her, my people,

lest you take part in her sins,

lest you share in her plagues;

⁵for xher sins are heaped high as heaven,

and yGod has remembered her iniquities.

⁶zPay her back as she herself has paid back others,

and repay her adouble for her deeds;

mix a double portion for her bin the cup she mixed.

⁷cAs she glorified herself and lived in luxury,

so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,

since in her heart she says,

d‘I sit as a queen,

I am no widow,

and mourning I shall never see.’

⁸For this reason her plagues will come ein a single day,

death and mourning and famine,

and fshe will be burned up with fire;

for gmighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

⁹And hthe kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, iwill weep and wail over her jwhen they see the smoke of her burning. ¹⁰kThey will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

“Alas! Alas! lYou great city,

you mighty city, Babylon!

For min a single hour your judgment has come.”

¹¹And nthe merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, ¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, ¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.2

¹⁴“The fruit for which your soul longed

has gone from you,

and all your delicacies and your splendors

are lost to you,

never to be found again!”

¹⁵oThe merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, pwill stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

¹⁶“Alas, alas, for the great city

qthat was clothed in fine linen,

in purple and scarlet,

adorned with gold,

with jewels, and with pearls!

¹⁷For rin a single hour all this wealth shas been laid waste.”

And tall shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off ¹⁸and ucried out vas they saw the smoke of her burning,

w“What city was like the great city?”

¹⁹And they threw xdust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city

ywhere all who had ships at sea

grew rich by her wealth!

For zin a single hour she has been laid waste.

²⁰aRejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and bapostles and prophets,

for cGod has given judgment for you against her!”

²¹Then da mighty angel etook up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon fthe great city be thrown down with violence,

and will be found no more;

²²and gthe sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,

will be heard in you no more,

and a craftsman of any craft

will be found in you no more,

and hthe sound of the mill

will be heard in you no more,

²³and the light of a lamp

will shine in you no more,

and ithe voice of bridegroom and bride

will be heard in you no more,

for jyour merchants were the great ones of the earth,

and all nations were deceived kby your sorcery.

²⁴And lin her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,

and of mall who have been slain on earth.”

The Coming Day of the Lord

¹Behold, xa day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. ²For yI will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and zthe city shall be taken aand the houses plundered band the women raped. cHalf of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ³dThen the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. ⁴eOn that day his feet shall stand fon gthe Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and gthe Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by ha very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. ⁵And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from ithe earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.1

⁶eOn that day jthere shall be jno light, cold, or frost.2 ⁷kAnd there shall be a unique3 day, lwhich is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but mat evening time there shall be light.

⁸eOn that day nliving waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to othe eastern sea4 and half of them to othe western sea.5 pIt shall continue in summer as in winter.

⁹And qthe Lord will be king over all the earth. rOn that day the Lord will be sone and this name one.

¹⁰uThe whole land shall be turned into a plain from vGeba to wRimmon south of Jerusalem. But xJerusalem shall remain aloft yon its site from zthe Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to athe Corner Gate, and from bthe Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. ¹¹And it shall be inhabited, for cthere shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.6 dJerusalem shall dwell in security.

¹²And this shall be ethe plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

¹³And fon that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that geach will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. ¹⁴Even hJudah will fight at Jerusalem.7 And ithe wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵And ja plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

¹⁶Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem kshall go up year after year to worship lthe King, the Lord of hosts, and mto keep nthe Feast of Booths. ¹⁷And if oany of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship lthe King, the Lord of hosts, pthere will be no rain on them. ¹⁸And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain;8 there shall be jthe plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up mto keep the Feast of Booths. ¹⁹This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up mto keep the Feast of Booths.

²⁰And qon that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, r“Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. ²¹And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be rholy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And sthere shall no longer be ta trader9 in the house of the Lord of hosts qon that day.

The High Priestly Prayer

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, mhe lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, nthe hour has come; oglorify your Son that the Son may pglorify you, ²since qyou have given him authority over all flesh, rto give eternal life to all swhom you have given him. ³tAnd this is eternal life, uthat they know you, vthe only wtrue God, and xJesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I yglorified you on earth, zhaving accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, aglorify me in your own presence with the glory bthat I had with you cbefore the world existed.

⁶d“I have manifested your name to the people ewhom you gave me out of the world. fYours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything fthat you have given me is from you. ⁸For I have given them gthe words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that hI came from you; and ithey have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am praying for them. jI am not praying for the world but for those kwhom you have given me, for lthey are yours. ¹⁰mAll mine are yours, and yours are mine, and nI am glorified in them. ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but othey are in the world, and pI am coming to you. qHoly Father, rkeep them in your name, swhich you have given me, tthat they may be one, ueven as we are one. ¹²vWhile I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have wguarded them, and xnot one of them has been lost except ythe son of destruction, zthat the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now aI am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have bmy joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴cI have given them your word, and dthe world has hated them ebecause they are not of the world, fjust as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I gdo not ask that you htake them out of the world, but that you ikeep them from jthe evil one.1 ¹⁶kThey are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷lSanctify them2 in the truth; myour word is truth. ¹⁸nAs you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And ofor their sake pI consecrate myself,3 that they also qmay be sanctified4 in truth.

²⁰“I do not rask for these only, but also for those swho will believe in me through their word, ²¹tthat they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that uthey also may be in vus, so that the world wmay believe that you have sent me. ²²xThe glory that you have given me yI have given to them, tthat they may be one even as we are one, ²³zI in them and you in me, athat they may become perfectly one, bso that the world may know that you sent me and cloved them even as dyou loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ewith me fwhere I am, gto see my glory that you have given me because you loved me hbefore the foundation of the world. ²⁵iO righteous Father, even though jthe world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶kI made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love lwith which you have loved me may be in them, and mI in them.”