2 Reis 19

BLIVRE · Chapter 19/25

¹E quando o rei Ezequias o ouviu, rasgou suas roupas, e cobriu-se de saco, e entrou-se na casa do SENHOR.

²E enviou a Eliaquim o mordomo, e a Sebna escriba, e aos anciãos dos sacerdotes, vestidos de sacos a Isaías profeta filho de Amoz,

³Que lhe dissessem: Assim disse Ezequias: Este dia é dia de angústia, e de repreensão, e de blasfêmia; porque os filhos vieram até o ponto do parto, mas a que dá à luz não tem forças.

⁴Talvez ouvirá o SENHOR tua Deus todas as palavras de Rabsaqué, ao qual o rei dos assírios, seu senhor, enviou para afrontar o Deus vivo, e repreenderá pelas palavras que o SENHOR teu Deus ouviu: portanto, eleva oração pelos restantes que ainda continuam.

⁵Vieram, pois, os servos do rei Ezequias a Isaías.

⁶E Isaías lhes respondeu: Assim direis a vosso senhor: Assim disse o SENHOR; Não temas pelas palavras que ouviste, com as quais me blasfemaram os servos do rei da Assíria.

⁷Eis que porei eu nele um espírito, e ouvirá rumor, e se voltará à sua terra: e eu farei que em sua terra caia à espada.

⁸E regressando Rabsaqué, achou ao rei da Assíria combatendo a Libna; porque havia ouvido que se havia partido de Laquis.

⁹E ouviu dizer de Tiraca rei de Etiópia: Eis que saiu para fazer-te guerra. Então voltou ele, e enviou embaixadores a Ezequias, dizendo:

¹⁰Assim direis a Ezequias rei de Judá: Não te engane teu Deus em quem tu confias, para dizer: Jerusalém não será entregue em mão do rei da Assíria.

¹¹Eis que tu ouviste o que fizeram os reis da Assíria a todas as terras, destruindo-as; e hás tu de escapar?

¹²Livraram-nas os deuses das nações, que meus pais destruíram, a saber, Gozã, e Harã, e Rezefe, e os filhos de Éden que estavam em Telassar?

¹³Onde está o rei de Hamate, o rei de Arpade, o rei da cidade de Sefarvaim, de Hena, e de Iva?

¹⁴E tomou Ezequias as cartas da mão dos embaixadores; e depois que as leu, subiu à casa do SENHOR, e estendeu-as Ezequias diante do SENHOR.

¹⁵E orou Ezequias diante do SENHOR, dizendo: SENHOR Deus de Israel, que habitas entre os querubins, tu só és Deus de todos os reinos da terra; tu fizeste o céu e a terra.

¹⁶Inclina, ó SENHOR, teu ouvido, e ouve; abre, ó SENHOR, teus olhos, e olha: e ouve as palavras de Senaqueribe, que enviou a blasfemar ao Deus vivente.

¹⁷É verdade, ó SENHOR, que os reis da Assíria destruíram as nações e suas terras;

¹⁸E que puseram no fogo a seus deuses, porquanto eles não eram deuses, mas sim obra de mãos de homens, madeira ou pedra, e assim os destruíram.

¹⁹Agora, pois, ó SENHOR Deus nosso, salva-nos, te suplico, de sua mão, para que saibam todos os reinos da terra que só tu, SENHOR, és Deus.

²⁰Então Isaías filho de Amoz enviou a dizer a Ezequias: Assim disse o SENHOR, Deus de Israel: O que me rogaste acerca de Senaqueribe rei da Assíria, ouvi.

²¹Esta é a palavra que o SENHOR falou contra ele: Menosprezou-te, escarneceu-te a virgem filha de Sião; moveu sua cabeça detrás de ti a filha de Jerusalém.

²²A quem afrontaste e a quem blasfemaste? E contra quem falaste alto, e levantaste em alto teus olhos? Contra o Santo de Israel.

²³Por meio de teus mensageiros proferiste afronta contra o Senhor, e disseste: Com a multidão de meus carros subi aos cumes dos montes, às costas do Líbano; e cortarei seus altos cedros, suas faias escolhidas; e entrarei à morada de seu termo, à floresta de seu terreno fértil.

²⁴Eu cavei e bebi as águas alheias, e sequei com as plantas de meus pés todos os rios de lugares bloqueados.

²⁵Nunca ouviste que há muito tempo eu o fiz, e de dias antigos o formei? E agora o fiz vir, e foi para desolação de cidades fortes em amontoados de ruínas.

²⁶E seus moradores, fracos de mãos, quebrantados e confusos, foram qual erva do campo, como hortaliça verde, e feno dos telhados, que antes que venha a maturidade é seco.

²⁷Eu soube teu assentar-te, teu sair e teu entrar, e teu furor contra mim.

²⁸Porquanto te iraste contra mim, e teu estrondo subiu a meus ouvidos, eu, portanto, porei meu anzol em tuas narinas, e meu freio em teus lábios, e te farei voltar pelo caminho por onde vieste.

²⁹E isto te será por sinal Ezequias: Este ano comerás o que nascerá de si mesmo, e no segundo ano o que nascerá de si mesmo; e ao terceiro ano semeareis, e colhereis, e plantareis vinhas, e comereis o fruto delas.

³⁰E o que houver escapado, o que haverá restado da casa de Judá, voltará a lançar raiz abaixo, e dará fruto acima.

³¹Porque sairão de Jerusalém remanescentes, e os que escaparão, do monte de Sião: o zelo do SENHOR dos exércitos fará isto.

³²Portanto, o SENHOR diz assim do rei da Assíria: Não entrará nesta cidade, nem lançará flecha nela; nem virá diante dela escudo, nem será levantado baluarte contra ela.

³³Pelo caminho que veio se voltará, e não entrará nesta cidade, diz o SENHOR.

³⁴Porque eu ampararei a esta cidade para salvá-la, por causa de mim, e por causa de Davi meu servo.

³⁵E aconteceu que a mesma noite saiu o anjo do SENHOR, e feriu no campo dos assírios cento oitenta e cinco mil; e quando se levantaram pela manhã, eis que eram todos cadáveres.

³⁶Então Senaqueribe, rei da Assíria, partiu-se, e se foi e voltou a Nínive, onde ficou.

³⁷E aconteceu que, estando ele adorando no templo de Nisroque seu deus, Adrameleque e Sarezer seus filhos o feriram à espada; e fugiram-se à terra de Ararate. E reinou em seu lugar Esar-Hadom seu filho.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Hezekiah seeks out the prophet Isaiah and prays fervently in the temple in the face of Sennacherib's threatening letters. Isaiah prophesies that the Assyrian king will not conquer Jerusalem. That very night, an angel of the Lord kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, forcing Sennacherib to retreat, and he is later assassinated by his own sons when he returns home.

Explanation

This chapter presents one of the most dramatic divine interventions in the Old Testament, answering Hezekiah's sincere and humble prayer in the face of a threat seemingly impossible to overcome by human means. Hezekiah's prayer in the temple, acknowledging both God's power and the weakness of idols of wood and stone, is a model of balanced faith: total trust in God without denying the seriousness of the situation. Sennacherib's later assassination by his own sons, decades afterward, fulfills Isaiah's prophecy and is independently recorded (though with different details) in ancient Babylonian sources.

Fun facts

Sennacherib's death, assassinated in the temple of his god Nisroch by his own sons, is independently confirmed in later Babylonian records, although they attribute the assassination mainly to a single son, showing a remarkable historical convergence with the biblical account.
The number of 185,000 soldiers killed in a single night, though extraordinary, is interpreted by various scholars as a reference to a sudden and devastating plague (possibly disease) that struck the Assyrian camp, consistent with accounts from Herodotus about a disaster among Egyptian-Assyrian forces around the same general period.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Reis 19:1On hearing the report of the Assyrian threat, Hezekiah tears his clothes, covers himself in sackcloth as a sign of distress, and goes straight to the temple — his first reaction is to seek God, not to strike back with force.
2 Reis 19:2Hezekiah sends his top officials and the elder priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to consult the prophet Isaiah.
2 Reis 19:3The message describes the situation as labor with no strength left to deliver: the crisis has reached its critical point, but there is still no solution in sight.
2 Reis 19:4Hezekiah hopes the Lord has heard Rabshakeh’s blasphemy against the living God, and asks Isaiah to pray for the small remnant of the people still left.
2 Reis 19:5Hezekiah’s servants carry this request directly to the prophet Isaiah.
2 Reis 19:6Isaiah answers without hesitation: do not be afraid of the blasphemous words the servants of the Assyrian king have spoken against the Lord.
2 Reis 19:7The Lord promises to put a spirit in the Assyrian king, making him hear a rumor and return to his own land, where he will fall dead by the sword.
2 Reis 19:8Rabshakeh returns and finds the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had moved on from Lachish.
2 Reis 19:9On hearing that Tirhakah, king of Cush, is coming to make war against him, Sennacherib sends another threatening message to Hezekiah.
2 Reis 19:10The new message repeats the same warning: do not be deceived by your God’s promise that Jerusalem will not fall.
2 Reis 19:11Sennacherib points to Assyria’s track record: it has destroyed every land it has passed through — why would Judah be any different?
2 Reis 19:12He asks whether the gods of the nations already destroyed — Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden in Telassar — managed to save them.
2 Reis 19:13He asks where the kings of Hamath and Arpad are now, and the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah — all defeated without any god stepping in.
2 Reis 19:14The physical act of spreading the threatening letter out before the altar was a concrete way of laying the problem before God, almost like evidence in a courtroom. It is a very tangible act of prayer, not just spoken words.
2 Reis 19:15Hezekiah prays before the Lord, calling Him the God enthroned between the cherubim, the only God over all the kingdoms of the earth, maker of heaven and earth.
2 Reis 19:16Hezekiah asks the Lord to bend down His ear and open His eyes to see, to hear the words of Sennacherib that insult the living God.
2 Reis 19:17Hezekiah admits it is true: Assyria really has destroyed nations and their lands — he does not deny the facts.
2 Reis 19:18But he points out that the gods of those nations were destroyed because they were never real gods to begin with, only wood and stone made by human hands.
2 Reis 19:19Hezekiah asks to be saved precisely so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that the Lord alone is God — the request itself becomes a matter of God’s own honor.
2 Reis 19:20Isaiah sends word to Hezekiah that the Lord has already heard his prayer concerning Sennacherib.
2 Reis 19:21The word of the Lord personifies Jerusalem as a young woman who despises and mocks Sennacherib, shaking her head behind him in pure contempt.
2 Reis 19:22The rhetorical question cuts straight to the point: against whom exactly has Sennacherib raised his voice with such pride? Against the Holy One of Israel.
2 Reis 19:23Through his messengers, Sennacherib boasted of climbing the highest mountains, cutting down Lebanon’s noblest cedars, and reaching the most remote places — an inflated pride in conquest.
2 Reis 19:24He also boasted of digging wells in foreign land and drying up the rivers of Egypt with the soles of his own feet — exaggerated claims of total dominance.
2 Reis 19:25The Lord reveals that Sennacherib’s conquests had already been planned by God long before; he was only an instrument used to reduce fortified cities to rubble.
2 Reis 19:26That is why the conquered peoples were left powerless, like grass of the field or rooftop plants that wither before they grow — the Assyrian victory was never his own achievement.
2 Reis 19:27The Lord declares that He knows Sennacherib’s every move — his sitting down, his going out, his coming in — and also his rage against God.
2 Reis 19:28Because this arrogance has reached God’s ears, the Lord promises to put a hook in his nose and a bit in his mouth, turning him back the way he came — the image of an animal being led away by force.
2 Reis 19:29A sign is given to Hezekiah: this year eat what grows on its own, the next year what springs from that, but in the third year go back to planting and harvesting as usual.
2 Reis 19:30The remnant that survives in Judah (the south) will take root again and bear fruit — a promise of recovery after the crisis.
2 Reis 19:31Out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who escape — the very zeal of the Lord will guarantee it.
2 Reis 19:32Therefore the Lord declares concerning the king of Assyria: he will not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor build any siege ramp against it.
2 Reis 19:33He will go back by the same way he came, without entering the city — this is the word of the Lord.
2 Reis 19:34The Lord promises to defend and save the city, not because Judah deserves it, but for His own honor and for the promise made to His servant David.
2 Reis 19:35Historians note that Assyrian records also mention this campaign against Jerusalem without claiming total victory over the city, though they do not confirm the exact death toll. The biblical account interprets this unexpected withdrawal as God’s direct intervention.
2 Reis 19:36After the disaster in the camp, Sennacherib withdraws, goes home, and settles in Nineveh, never having managed to take Jerusalem.
2 Reis 19:37The death of the great Assyrian king inside the temple of his own god, killed by his own sons, is also recorded in later Assyrian sources, decades after the fact. It is one of the rare cases in the book of Kings with solid external historical confirmation.