The King Asks Isaiah's Advice
(2 Kings 19.1-7)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 to 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 by 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
(2 Kings 19.8-19)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 10 of Judah 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, 16 “Almighty Lord, God of Israel, seated above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. 17 Now, Lord, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. 18 We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, 19 and burned up their gods—which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. 20 Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that you alone are God.”
Isaiah's Message to the King
(2 Kings 19.20-37)21 Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer 22 the Lord had said, “The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you. 23 Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel. 24 You sent your servants 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. 25 You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.
26 “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. 27 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.
28 “But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me. 29 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 will take you back by the same road you came.”
30 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 grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes. 31 Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit. 32 There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the Lord Almighty is determined to make this happen.
33 “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. 34 He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the Lord, have spoken. 35 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.’”
36 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! 37 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. 38 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
(2Ozo 19:1-7)1 Mokamanga ombara Hiskija tja za nokuzuva omaserekarerero wawo otja nyondorora ozombanda ze moruhoze, a zara ozombanda zomakutu na i kondjuwo ya Muhona. 2 Eye wa hinda Eljakim, omunane 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: “Ndinondi oro eyuva romihihamo; eṱe matu verwa nu matu yambururwa. Tu ri otja omukazendu ngwe rirongerere okukapanduka, nungwari ngu hi nomasa okutjita nao. 4 Ombara yOvaasirie ya hinda omuhongore wayo omunene okuyamburura Ndjambi omunamuinyo. Muhona, Ndjambi woye, nga zuve omayamburiro nga, nu nga vere imba mbe ye hungira. Opu mo sokukumbira 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, ndji mai tjiti kutja i yaruke kehi rayo oini, nu Muhona me keizepaisira ngo.”
Ovaasirie mave hindi omatandero warwe
(2Ozo 19:8-19)8 Omuhongore wOvaasirie wa zuva kutja ombara Sanherib wa za mOlakis na karwisa otjihuro tjopopezu Libna; eye opa ira ngo okukahungira na ye. 9 Kwa zuvaka ombuze kOvaasirie kutja otjimbumba tjovarwe vOvaengipte tjaa tji hongorerwa i Tirhaka, ombara ya Etiopie, tje ya okuverwisa. Nombara tji ya zuva nai, arire tji ya hindi orutuu ku Hiskija, ombara ya Juda, 10 okumuraera nai: “Ndjambi ku u riyameka we ku raera kutja ove ko nokuwira momake wandje; nungwari ngoo wovisiwa i ye. 11 Ove wa zuva ozombara zOvaasirie tji ze tjita komahi ngamwa aehe ngu maze vanga okunyona. Nu mo ripura kutja, tjiri, mo yenene okuhena are? 12 Ootate mukururume va nyonene ovihuro ooGosan na Haran na Resef, nu va zepere ovandu va Eden, mba turire mOtelasar, nu kapa ri omukuru wawo ngwa sorere okuveyama. 13 Ozombara zovihuro ooHamat na Arpad na Sefarwajim na Hena na Iwa ze ri pi?”
14 Ombara Hiskija wa kambura orutuu kovahindwa ne ru rese. Eye wa ya kondjuwo ya Muhona, a katwa orutuu ndwi mbo momurungu wa Muhona, 15 na kumbu a tja: 16 “Muhona Omunamasaaehe, Ndjambi wa Israel, ngu u haama kotjihavero tjoye tjouhona kombanda yovakerubi, ove erike oove Ndjambi, ngu u honapara kombanda yomauhona aehe mouye. Ove wa utire eyuru nehi. 17 Nambano, Muhona, tu zuvira, nu tara ku imbi mbi mavi tjitwa ku eṱe. Puratena komambo aehe Sanherib ngu ma hungire okuyamburura ove, ngu u ri Ndjambi omunamuinyo. 18 Eṱe atuhe matu tjiwa, Muhona, kutja ozombara za Asirie za yandeka oviwaṋa ovingi, aze tjiti omahi wavyo okurira ongaango, 19 naze ningiririsa oomukuru vavyo vovisenginina mbe ha ri oomukuru oparukaze, nungwari mba ri oviserekarera vyomiti nomawe uriri, mbya ungurirwe i omake wovandu. 20 Nambano, Muhona, Ndjambi wetu, tu yama kOvaasirie kokutja oviwaṋa avihe mouye vi tjiwe kutja oove erike ngu u ri Ndjambi.”
Ombuze ya Jesaja kombara
(2Ozo 19:20-37)21 Jesaja arire tja hindi ombuze okukaraera ombara Hiskija kutja Muhona wa zuva ongumbiro yombara, ne i ziri nai: 22 “Otjihuro tja Jerusalem matji ku yoro, Sanherib, nu matji ku nyekerere. 23 Mo ripura kutja wa yamburura nu wa nyekerera uṋe? Ove wa ri nokuhinondengero ku ami, ngu mbi ri Omuyapuke wa Israel. 24 Ove wa hinda ovakarere voye okuyamburura ami amo tja ove nomatemba woye aehe wovita mwa huura ozondundu inḓa ozonde tjinenenene za Libanon. Ove we rihiva amo tja ingo wa ka otupapa itwi oture tjinenenene, nomimbonde imbi omiwamiwa, nokutja wa kavaza kokwara kwomahwa, nga pita. 25 Ove we rihiva amo tja wa hupura ozondjombo nu wa nwa omeva momahi wozonganda, nokutja ozombaze zovarwe voye wovita za tomba onḓonḓu Nil nga tji ya kaha.
26 “Ko na pu wa zuvire kutja ami mbe ripura okuṱuna oviṋa mbi avihe rukuru are? Nu nambano ami mbe vi yenenisa. Mbe ku pa omasa okutjita kutja ovihuro ovinamasa vi rire ovitambatundu. 27 Ovandu mba turire mo kava ri nomasa; owo aave tira, nu va ri nohoṋi; va ri otja omahozu mokuti poo otja ozondombora nḓa hapa komututu wondjuwo, nu nḓe nyosiwa i ombepo ombyu yokomuhuka.
28 “Nungwari ami me tjiwa oviṋa avihe vyoye na imbi mbi u tjita, nokoṋa akuhe ku mo i; nu me tjiwa tji mo pirukire ami. 29 Ami mba zuva omaserekarerero womapirukiro nga nomeritongamisiro woye; nu nambano me hweke oruuri meyuru roye, nombate motjinyo tjoye, nu me ku yarura nondjira tjingeyo ndji ndji wa eta.”
30 Jesaja wa tja nai kombara Hiskija: “Ihi otjiraisiro tjaimbi mbi mavi tjitwa, otjo hi: Ombura ndji na indji ndji mai yende mo ri ovikokotwa mbi mavi rihapere ovini, nungwari mombura indji oitjatatu mo yenene okukuna ovikokotwa vyoye nokuvikonda, nu mo kunu omivite nokurya omandjembere wavyo. 31 Nu imba mba hupa mOjuda mave takavara tjimuna ovikunwa, mbi mavi nangananisa omize vyavyo mehi, navi eta ovihape. 32 Mamu kara ovandu mOjerusalem na kondundu Sion mbu mave hupu, orondu Muhona Omunamasaaehe wa zikamisa kutja oviṋa mbi vi tjitwe.
33 “Imbi Muhona ombya hungirira ombara yOvaasirie a tja: ‘Oyo kai nokuhita motjihuro hi poo okuyaha 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. 34 Oyo ya yaruka nondjira tjingeyo ndji ndji ye ya na yo, nu kai nokuhita motjihuro hi. Ami, ngu mbi ri Muhona, mba hungire. 35 Ami me yeura otjihuro hi nu me tji yama mena rondjozikiro yandje omuini na mena romakwizikiro ngu mba tjita komukarere wandje David.’ ”
36 Omuengeri wa Muhona wa ya kozondanda zOvaasirie na kazepa ovarwe wovita 185,000. Nomuhuka omunene wependukirwa tjandje va rangavara mbo ava koka! 37 Sanherib, ombara yOvaasirie, otja womboroka, a huhunuka na yaruka kOninive. 38 Eyuva rimwe, eye ngunda ame rikotamenene mondjuwo onḓere yomukuru we Nisrok, ovazandu ve vevari Adramelek na Sareser arire tji ve mu zepa nomangaruvyo wawo, nave henene kehi ra Ararat. Omuzandu we warwe, Asarhadon, we mu pingena mouhona.
