2 Kings 19:29-37

19:29 ¹ This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: ²  This year you will eat what grows wild, ³  and next year ⁴  what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ⁵  19:30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. ⁶ 

19:31 For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the sovereign Lord ⁷  to his people ⁸  will accomplish this.

19:32 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here. ⁹ 

He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, ¹⁰ 

nor will he build siege works against it.

19:33 He will go back the way he came.

He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.

19:34 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’” ¹¹ 

19:35 That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they ¹²  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. ¹³  19:36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. ¹⁴  19:37 One day, ¹⁵  as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, ¹⁶  his sons ¹⁷  Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ¹⁸  They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

[19:29]  ¹ tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).

[19:29]  ² tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.

[19:29]  ³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

[19:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in the second year.”

[19:29]  ⁵ tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.

[19:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”

[19:31]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”

[19:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them. The Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, has “the zeal of the LORD of hosts” rather than “the zeal of the LORD” (Kethib). The translation follows the Qere here.

[19:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “there.”

[19:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.

[19:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

[19:35]  ¹² tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[19:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”

[19:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

[19:37]  ¹⁵ sn The assassination probably took place in 681 b.c.

[19:37]  ¹⁶ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name is a corruption of Nusku.

[19:37]  ¹⁷ tc Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib, it is supported by the Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions. Cf. Isa 37:38.

[19:37]  ¹⁸ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.