The King Asks Isaiah's Advice
(Isaiah 37.1-7)1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth. 3 This is the message which he told them to give Isaiah: “Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it. 4 The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the Lord your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive.”
5 When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message, 6 he sent back this answer: “The Lord tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you with their claims that he cannot save you. 7 The Lord will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the Lord will have him killed there.”
The Assyrians Send Another Threat
(Isaiah 37.8-20)8 The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him. 9 Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah of Judah 10 to tell him, “The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you. 11 You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape? 12 My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them. 13 Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the Lord, 15 and prayed, “O Lord, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. 16 Now, Lord, look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. 17 We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, 18 and burned up their gods—which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. 19 Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that only you, O Lord, are God.”
Isaiah's Message to the King
(Isaiah 37.21-38)20 Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer 21 the Lord had said, “The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you. 22 Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel. 23 You sent your messengers to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests. 24 You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.
25 “Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble. 26 The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.
27 “But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me. 28 I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth, and take you back by the same road you came.”
29 Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, “Here is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to plant your grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes. 30 Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit. 31 There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the Lord is determined to make this happen.
32 “And this is what the Lord has said about the Assyrian emperor: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it. 33 He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the Lord, have spoken. 34 I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.’”
35 That night an angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! 36 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. 37 One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.
Ombara Hiskija ma ningire ondunge ku Jesaja
(Jes 37:1-7)1 Mokamanga ombara Hiskija tja zuva omaserekarerero wawo, otja nyondorora ozombanda ze moruhoze, e ri zarisa ozombanda zomakutu na i kondjuwo ya Muhona. 2 Eye wa hinda Eljakim, omuṱakamise omunene wondjuwo youhona, na Sebna, omutjangerepo wouhona, nOvapristeri Oviuru komuprofete Jesaja, omuzandu wa Amos. Owo wina va zarere ozombanda zomakutu. 3 Ombuze ndje ve raera okukayandja ku Jesaja, oyo ndji: “Ndino oro eyuva romihihamo; eṱe matu verwa, nu matu yambururwa. Tu ri otja omukazendu ngwe rirongerere okupanduka, nungwari ngu hi nomasa okutjita nao. 4 Ombara yOvaasirie ya hinda omuhongore wayo omunene okukayamburura Ndjambi omunamuinyo. Arikana, Muhona, Ndjambi woye, nga zuve omayambururiro nga, nu nga vere imba mbe ye hungire. Nambano kumbira ovandu vetu ku Ndjambi, imba mba hupa.”
5 Jesaja tja zuva ombuze ndji yombara Hiskija, 6 otja yarura eziriro ndi a tja: “Muhona me ku tjivisa kutja o ha tirisiwa i Ovaasirie nomahungiriro wawo wokutja Muhona ke nokumuyama. 7 Muhona ma tjiti kutja indji ombara i zuve ondangu yorive, ndji mai tjiti kutja ombara i yaruke kehi rayo oini; nu Muhona me keizepaisira ngo.”
Ovaasirie mave hindi ondandero yarwe
(Jes 37:8-20)8 Omuhongore wOvaasirie wa zuva kutja ombara Sanherib wa za mOlakis na karwisa otjihuro Libna, tji tja ri popezu na Lakis; eye opa ira ngo okukahungira na ye. 9 Kwa zuvaka ombuze kOvaasirie kutja otjimbumba tjovita tjOvaengipte tji tja hongorerwa i Tirhaka, ombara ya Etiopie, tje ya okuverwisa. Nombara tji ya zuva nai ya hinda orutuu ku Hiskija, ombara ya Juda, 10 okukemuraera nai: “Omukuru ku we riyameka we ku tjivisa kutja ove ko nokuhita momake wandje; nungwari o wovisiwa i ye. 11 Ove wa zuva ozombara zOvaasirie tji ze tjita komahi ngamwa aehe ngu maze vanga okunyona. Mo ripura kutja mo yenene okutaura are? 12 Ootate mukururume va nyonene ovihuro mbi ooGosan na Haran na Resef, nave zepa ovandu va Eden, mba turire mOtelasar, nu kapa ri omukuru wawo umwe ngwa sorere okuveyama. 13 Ozombara zovihuro ooHamat na Arpad na Sefarwajim na Hena na Iwa ze ri pi?”
14 Ombara Hiskija wa kambura orutuu ndwi kovahindwa ne ru rese. Tjazumba eye wa ya kondjuwo ya Muhona a katwa orutuu ndwi momurungu wa Muhona, 15 na kumbu a tja: “Muhona, Ndjambi wa Israel, ngu u haama kotjihavero tjoye tjouhona kombanda yovakerubi, oove erike ngu u ri Ndjambi, ngu u honapara kombanda yomauhona aehe mouye, ove wa utire eyuru nehi. 16 Nambano, Muhona, tu zuvira, nu tara ku imbi mbi mavi tjitwa ku eṱe. Puratena komambo aehe Sanherib ngu ma hungire okukuyamburura, ove ngu u ri Ndjambi omunamuinyo. 17 Eṱe atuhe matu tjiwa, Muhona, kutja ozombara za Asirie za nyona oviwaṋa ovingi, aze tjiti omahi wavyo okurira onguza 18 naze ningiririsa oomukuru vavyo vovisenginina, mbe ha ri oomukuru oparukaze, nungwari mba ri oviserekarera vyomiti nomawe uriri mbya ungurwa i omake wovandu. 19 Nambano, Muhona, Ndjambi wetu, tu yama kOvaasirie, kokutja oviwaṋa avihe mouye vi tjiwe kutja oove erike, Muhona, ngu u ri Ndjambi.”
Ombuze ya Jesaja kombara
(Jes 37:21-38)20 Jesaja wa hinda ombuze okukaraera ombara Hiskija kutja Muhona wa zuva ongumbiro yombara ne i ziri, 21 ama tja nai: “Otjihuro Jerusalem matji ku yoro, Sanherib, nu matji ku nyekerere. 22 Hapo mo ripura kutja wa yamburura nu wa nyekerera uṋe? Ove kawa ri nondengero ku ami, ngu mbi ri Ndjambi, Omuyapuke wa Israel. 23 Ove wa tuma ovahindwa voye okundjiyamburura kutja ove nomatemba woye aehe wovita mwa huura ozondundu inḓa ozonde tjinenenene, nangarire indji ondomba yondundu Libanon. Ove we rihiva kutja wa ka otupapa itwi oture tjinenenene nomimbonde imbi omiwamiwa koṋa ngo, okutja wa kavaza kokwara kwokuti ku kwa pita. 24 Ove we rihiva kutja wa hupura ozondjombo no nu omeva momahi wozonganda, nokutja ozombaze zovarwe voye wovita za tomba onḓonḓu Nil nga tji ya kaha.
25 “Ko na pu wa zuvire kutja ami mbe ripura okuṱuna oviṋa mbi avihe rukuru are? Nambano ami mbe vi yenenisa. Ami mbe ku pa omasa okutjita ovihuro ovinamasa kutja vi rire ovitambatundu. 26 Ovandu, mba turire mo kava ri nomasa; owo aave tira nu va ri nohoṋi. Va ri otja omahozu mokuti poo ozondombora, nḓa hapa komututu wondjuwo, nu nḓe nyosiwa i ombepo ombyu yokomuhuka.
27 “Nungwari ami me tjiwa oviṋa avihe vyoye mbi u tjita, nokoṋa akuhe ku u yenda; nu me tjiwa tji u rokohera mu ami. 28 Ami mba zuva omaserekarerero womarokohero nga nomeritongamisiro woye; nambano me hweke oruuri meyuru roye nombate motjinyo tjoye, nu me ku yarura nondjira tjingeyo, indji ndji mwa etere.”
29 Tjazumba Jesaja wa tja nai kombara Hiskija: “Otjiraisiro tjoviṋa, mbi mavi tjitwa, otjo hi: Ombura ndji na indji ndji mai yende mamu ri ovikokotwa vyokuti mbi mavi rihapere ovini, nungwari mombura indji oitjatatu mamu yenene okukuna ovikokotwa vyeṋu nokuvikonda, nu mamu kunu omivite namu ri omandjembere wavyo. 30 Imba mba hupa mOjuda mave takavara tjimuna ovikunwa mbi mavi nangananisa omize vyavyo mehi navi eta ovihape. 31 Mamu kara ovandu mOjerusalem na kondundu Sion mbu mave hupu, onḓero ya Muhona Omunamasaaehe tjinga amai tjiti nai.
32 “Ihi Muhona tja hungirira ombara ya Asirie, otjo hi: ‘oyo kai nokuhita motjihuro hi poo okuyumba otjiku nangarire tjimwe mu tjo. Kape novarwe wovita mbe notuvao mbu mave ya popezu notjihuro ho, nu kape notumbo twomakoverero tu matu tungwa okukondoroka tjo. 33 Oyo mai yaruka nondjira tjingeyo, indji ndji ye ya na yo, nu kamaai hiti motjihuro hi. Ami, ngu mbi ri Muhona, mba hungire. 34 Ami me yeura otjihuro hi ne tji yama mena rondjozikiro yandje omuini, na mena romakwizikiro ngu mba tjita komukarere wandje David!’ ”
35 Ouṱuku mbo omuengeri wa Muhona wa ya kozondanda zOvaasirie na kazepa ovarwe wovita 185,000. Menyunguhuka rependukirwa raindo owo avehe va saravara mbo ava koka. 36 Sanherib, ombara yOvaasirie, otja womboroka na yaruka kotjihuro Ninive. 37 Eyuva rimwe Sanherib ngunda ama kumbire mondjuwo onḓere yomukuru we wotjisenginina Nisrok, ovazandu ve vevari, ooAdramelek na Sareser, otji ve mu zepa nomangaruvyo wawo; tjazumba ave henene kehi ra Ararat. Nu omuzandu we warwe, Asarhadon, we mu pingena okurira ombara.
