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.
Okuxupifwa kwaJerusalem
1 Nohamba Hiskia eshi ye shi uda, oya pombaula oikutu yayo ndele tai djala oikutu yeefya, ndele tai i mongulu yOmwene. 2 Opo nee ye a tuma komuxunganeki Jesaja yaAmos Eliakim, elenga leumbo lohamba naSebna, omushangi, novakulunhu vomovapristeli, va djala oikutu yeefya. 3 Ndele vo otava ti kuye: “Hiskia ta ti ngaha: Efiku eli, olo efiku loudjuu nolehandu nolesheko. Osheshi ounona ve uya poshivelo shoshidalelo, ndelenee kape neenghono dokudala. 4 Kashiimba Omwene Kalunga koye ta udu eendjovo adishe daRabsake, ou a tumwa komwene waye, ohamba yaAsiria, opo a sheke Kalunga, ndele Ye ote mu handukile omolweendjovo odo Omwene Kalunga koye a uda. Yelula hano eindilo molwoshixupe osho shi li po natango.” 5 Ndele ovapiya vohamba Hiskia eshi ve uya kuJesaja, 6 Jesaja ta ti kuvo: “Omwene weni, mu lombweleni: ‘Omwene osho ta ti: Ino tila eendjovo odo we di uda, da shekifwa nge kovapiya vohamba yaAsiria. 7 Tala, Ame ohandi ke mu pa omhepo, nokutya ta udu eenghundana, ndele ta shuna koshilongo shaye, ndele Ame ohandi ke mu dipaa neongamukonda moshilongo shaye.’ ”
8 Opo nee Rabsake a shuna, ndele ta hange ohamba yaAsiria tai lwifa Libna, osheshi okwa li, a uda nokutya, yo ya dja muLakis. 9 Ndele ye eshi a uda Tirhaka, ohamba yaEtiopia, taku tiwa: “Ye okwa fikama e ku lwife,” okwa tumununa ovatumwa kuHiskia nondaka tai ti: 10 “Ka lombweleni Hiskia, ohamba yaJuda, mu tye: ‘Ino shiivika oulai kuKalunga koye, ou we mu lineekela, eshi to ti, Jerusalem itashi yandjwa momake ohamba yaAsiria. 11 Tala, ove mwene wa uda, eshi eehamba daAsiria da ningila oilongo aishe ndele de i teya po. Oove ngeno u xupifwe? 12 Oikalunga yoiwana oyo ya hanaunwa po kutate, oye i xupifa ngeno, Gosan naHaran naResef novana vaEden sha li muTelassar? 13 Ohamba yaHamat oi li peni? Nohamba yaArpad nohamba yoshilando shaSefarvaim, noyaHena noyaIva, oi li peni?’ ”
14 Hiskia eshi a tambula onhumwafo oyo momake ovatumwa nokwe i lesha, ye okwa ya mongulu yOmwene. Ndele Hiskia okwe i yala koshipala shOmwene. 15 Ndele Hiskia okwa indila koshipala shOmwene ndele ta ti: “Omwene, Kalunga kaIsrael, Ove ho kala omutumba kovakerubi, Oove auke Kalunga koilongo aishe yokombada yedu. Ove wa shita eulu nedu! 16 Akutu Omwene, ameka okutwi kwoye, ove u ude ko. Pashula omesho oye, Omwene, u tale. Ndele uda eendjovo daSanheerib, ou a tuma okusheka Kalunga omunamwenyo! 17 Oshili, Omwene eehamba daAsiria oda hanauna po oiwana noilongo yayo, 18 noikalunga yayo ya xwikwa momundilo, osheshi kai li oikalunga ndelenee oilonga yomake ovanhu, oshiti nemanya. Onghee hano odo da dula oku i hanauna po. 19 Tu xupifa, Omwene Kalunga ketu, momake ayo, opo oilongo aishe yokombada yedu i shiive nokutya, Oove Omwene auke Kalunga kashili.”
20 Opo nee Jesaja yaAmos a tuma kuHiskia, ta ti: “Omwene Kalunga kaIsrael ta ti ngaha: ‘Osho we shi indila nge omolwaSanheerib, ohamba yaAsiria, Ame nde shi uda.’ 21 Ondjovo ei, Omwene e i tongela Hiskia:
‘Okakadona kaSion take ku dini, take ku sheke.
Omona okakadona kaJerusalem
otake ku lipukaapukile komutwe.
22 Olyelye ou, ove we mu dina nowe mu tuka?
Nondaka yoye we i yelulila lyelye?
Nomesho oye we a dakamena
melituleko kOmuyapuki waIsrael!
23 Ove wa tukifa Omwene kovatumwa voye
ndele wa tile: “Nouhapu womatemba ange
ame nda londa keenhele deemhunda,
keexulo daLibanon,
ndele ame nda ka omisederi dayo dile dinene,
nomisipresi dayo da hoololwa onde di ka,
ndele nda pita nda ya fiyo okouxulonyonyo wayo,
nomuulu wayo ou u li ngaashi oshikunino.
24 Ame nda xupa mo ndele nda nwa mo omeva omoilongo,
neemhadi dange nda pwiininifa omilonga adishe domuEgipiti.”
25 ‘Ino shi uda?
Ame nde shi lilongekidila nale
nonde shi litokolela momafiku onale?
Paife onde shi wanifa nokutya,
oilando yoye yeehotekuma
ove u i ninge eenduba dongaho,
26 noonakukalamo muyo ova ngonopala,
va haluka ndele va kala va lengwa.
Vo va li ngaashi oimeno italala yomoixwa,
nongaashi omwiidi tai mene keenduda,
nonhimba fimbo inai kula.
27 ‘Ndelenee okukala omutumba kwoye
nokudja po kwoye nokuuya mo kwoye
ondi ku shii nonhumbi ho tukulukile nge.
28 Shaashi ove ho tukulukile nge,
ndele ounhwa woye wa fika momatwi ange,
onghee hano nda hala ndi xwekele ongona meyulu loye
noshitomo mokanya koye
ndele handi ku shunifa nondjila oyo we uya nayo.
29 ‘Ndele oshinima eshi tashi ka kala edidiliko kwoove: Neudo eli, lyeni, eshi tashi mene shoovene, ndele momudo omutivali osho tashi mene natango. Ndelenee momudo omutitatu, kuneni, nye mu teye, twikeni oikokola yomiviinyu nye mu lye eeviinyu dayo. 30 Opo nee ovaxupifwa vomeumbo laJuda, ava va xupa po, tava ka twamifa omidi davo medu, ndele tava ka imika oiimati pombada, 31 osheshi muJerusalem tamu ka dja oshixupe, novaxupifwa komhunda yaSion.”
Ouladi wOmwene womatanga ovakwaita tau ke shi ninga.
32 “Onghee hano Omwene ta ti mokupopya ohamba yaAsiria: Yo itai uya mo moshilando eshi, ndele itai umbile mo oshikuti, yo itai shi totele nande noikelelifo, ndele itai tungu ko omatelendja. 33 Nondjila tuu oyo e uya nayo, yo i nokushuna. Ndelenee moshilando tuu eshi yo itai ke uya mo nande. 34 Ndele Ame ohandi ka amena oshilando eshi, ndi shi xupife omolwange mwene nomolwomupiya wange David.’ ”
Enyonauko lomatanga ovakwaita vaSanheerib
35 Ndele oufiku tuu winya omweengeli wOmwene e uya nokwa dipaa monhanda yOvaasiria ovalumenhu omayovi efele nomilongo hetatu naatano. Nongula eshi kwa sha ndele va penduka, aveshe va li oimhu ihe nomwenyo. 36 Ndele Sanheerib, ohamba yaAsiria, oya fikama ndele tai i, tai shuna ndele ya kala muNinive. 37 Ndele yo eshi ye linyongamena motembeli yaNisrok, ovana vayo ovamati Adrammelek naShareser, ve mu dipaa neongamukonda. Ndelenee va ya onhapo koshilongo shaArarat. Nomona waye omumati Esar-Haddon okwa ninga ohamba ponhele yaye.
