Bible Reading Plan

2 Kings 19

Chapter 19

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

^1 (C1)Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he ^(C2)tore his clothes, ^(C3)covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, ^(C1)covered with sackcloth, to ^(C2)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.³ And they said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.⁴ '^(C1)Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(C2)to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^(C3)the remnant that is ^(F1)left.'"⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.⁶ And Isaiah said to them, "This is what you shall say to your master: 'The LORD says this: "Do not be fearful because of the words that you have heard, with which the ^(C1)servants of the king of Assyria ^(C2)have blasphemed Me.⁷ "Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that ^(C1)he will hear news and return to his own land. And ^(C2)I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

Sennacherib Defies God

⁸ Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(C1)Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left ^(C2)Lachish.⁹ When he heard them say about Tirhakah king of ^(F1)Cush, "Behold, he has come out to fight you," he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,¹⁰ "This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^(F1)Judah: 'Do not ^(C1)let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, "^(C2)Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."¹¹ 'Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?¹² '^(C1)Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: ^(C2)Gozan, ^(C3)Haran, Rezeph, and ^(C4)the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?¹³ '^(C1)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'"

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Then ^(C1)Hezekiah took the ^(F1)letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and ^(F2)spread it out before the LORD.¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "LORD, God of Israel, ^(F1)(C1)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(C2)You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.¹⁶ "^(C1)Incline Your ear, LORD, and hear; ^(C2)open Your eyes, LORD, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(C3)to taunt the living God.¹⁷ "It is true, LORD; the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,¹⁸ and have ^(F1)hurled their gods into the fire; ^(C1)for they were not gods, but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.¹⁹ "But now, LORD our God, please, save us from his hand, ^(C1)so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, ^(C2)LORD, are God."

God's Answer through Isaiah

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^(C1)I have heard you.'²¹ "This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:

'She, ^(C1)the virgin daughter of Zion, has shown contempt for you and mocked you;
She, the daughter of Jerusalem, ^(C2)has shaken her head behind you!

²² 'Whom have you ^(C1)taunted and ^(C2)blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice,
And ^(F1)haughtily raised your eyes?
Against the ^(C3)Holy One of Israel!

²³ '^(C1)Through your messengers you have taunted the Lord,
And you have said, "With my many chariots
I went up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choicest junipers.
And I entered its farthest resting place, its ^(C2)thickest forest.

²⁴ "I dug wells and drank foreign waters,
And with the soles of my feet I ^(C1)dried up
All the streams of Egypt."

²⁵ '^(C1)Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it;
From ancient times I planned it.
^(C2)Now I have brought it about,
That you would turn fortified cities into ruined heaps.

²⁶ 'Therefore their inhabitants were ^(F1)powerless,
They were shattered and put to shame.
They were ^(C1)like the vegetation of the field and the green grass,
Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.

²⁷ 'But ^(C1)I know your sitting down,
Your going out, your coming in,
And your raging against Me.

²⁸ 'Because of your raging against Me,
And because your complacency has come up to My ears,
I ^(C1)will put My hook in your nose,
And My bridle in your lips,
And ^(C2)I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

²⁹ 'Then this shall be ^(C1)the sign for you: ^(F1)you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows by itself, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.³⁰ '^(C1)The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.³¹ 'For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and survivors ^(C1)out of Mount Zion. ^(C2)The zeal of ^(F1)the LORD will perform this.

³² 'Therefore this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: "^(C1)He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield nor heap up an assault ramp against it.³³ "^(C1)By the way that he came, by ^(F1)the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,"' declares the LORD.³⁴ '^(C1)For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and ^(C2)for My servant David's sake.'"

^35 (C1)Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of ^(F1)the 185,000 were ^(F2)dead.³⁶ So ^(C1)Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and ^(F1)returned home, and lived at ^(C2)Nineveh.³⁷ Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that ^(F1)(C1)Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to ^(C2)the land of Ararat. And his son ^(C3)Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Nahum 1

Chapter 1

God Is Awesome

¹ The ^(C1)pronouncement of ^(C2)Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

² A ^(C1)jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is ^(C2)avenging and ^(F1)wrathful.
The LORD takes ^(C3)vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

³ The LORD is ^(C1)slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
In the ^(C2)gale and the storm is His way,
And ^(C3)clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

⁴ He ^(C1)rebukes the sea and dries it up;
He dries up all the rivers.
^(C2)Bashan and Carmel wither,
The blossoms of Lebanon wither.

⁵ Mountains ^(C1)quake because of Him,
And the hills ^(C2)come apart;
Indeed the earth is ^(C3)upheaved by His presence,
The ^(C4)world and all the inhabitants in it.

^6 (C1)Who can stand before His indignation?
Who can endure the ^(C2)burning of His anger?
His ^(C3)wrath gushes forth like fire,
And the ^(C4)rocks are broken up by Him.

⁷ The LORD is ^(C1)good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And ^(C2)He knows those who take refuge in Him.

⁸ But with an ^(C1)overflowing flood
He will make a complete end of ^(F1)its site,
And will pursue His enemies into ^(C2)darkness.

⁹ Whatever you ^(C1)devise against the LORD,
He will make a ^(C2)complete end of it.
Distress will not rise up twice.

¹⁰ Like tangled ^(C1)thorns,
And like those who are ^(C2)drunken with their drink,
They are ^(C3)consumed
Like stubble completely dried up.

¹¹ From you has gone out
One who ^(C1)plotted evil against the LORD,
A ^(F1)(C2)wicked counselor.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:16