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2 Kings 18 19-2 Kings 18 37
The field commander said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah:“‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?You say you have the counsel and the might for war— but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.But if you say to me,“ We are depending on the Lord our God”— isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem,“ You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?“‘ Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses— if you can put riders on them!How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander,“ Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”But the commander replied,“ Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall— who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,“ Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand.Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says,‘ The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’“ Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,until I come and take you to a land like your own— a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!“ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says,‘ The Lord will deliver us.’Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded,“ Do not answer him.”Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
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Daniel 4:30
he said,“ Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
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Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long,“ Where is your God?”
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Acts 12:22-23
They shouted,“ This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
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Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
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2 Kings 18 5
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.
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Isaiah 37:11-15
Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them— the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
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Psalms 42:10
My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long,“ Where is your God?”
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Isaiah 10:8-14
‘ Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.‘ Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’”When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say,“ I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.For he says:“‘ By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’”
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Jude 1:16
These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
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2 Kings 19 10
“ Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says,‘ Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
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Ezekiel 31:3-18
Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters.All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade.It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters.The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches— no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty.I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.“‘ Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height,I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside,and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it.All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well- watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.“‘ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the realm of the dead I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away.I made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well- watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.They too, like the great cedar, had gone down to the realm of the dead, to those killed by the sword, along with the armed men who lived in its shade among the nations.“‘ Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.“‘ This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
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2 Chronicles 32 14-2 Chronicles 32 16
Who of all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand?Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!”Sennacherib’s officers spoke further against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah.
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2 Chronicles 32 7-2 Chronicles 32 10
“ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.Later, when Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces were laying siege to Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah who were there:“ This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are you basing your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
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Psalms 71:10-11
For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together.They say,“ God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him.”
