2 Kings 19:3-4
19:3 “This is what Hezekiah says: 1 ‘This is a day of distress, insults, 2 and humiliation, 3 as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. 4
19:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. 5 When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. 6 So pray for this remnant that remains.’” 7
2 Kings 19:15-20
19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! 8 You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky 9 and the earth.
19:16 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! 10
19:17 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands.
19:18 They have burned the gods of the nations, 11 for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. 12
19:19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”
19:20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 13
1 tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him.”
2 tn Or “rebuke,” “correction.”
3 tn Or “contempt.”
4 tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”
5 tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”
6 tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”
7 tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”
8 sn This refers to the cherub images that were above the ark of the covenant.
9 tn Or “the heavens.”
10 tn Heb “Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”
11 tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”
12 tn Heb “so they destroyed them.”
13 tn Heb “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in the parallel passage in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense, “because.”