2nd Kings 列王纪下19

19When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord .
2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator¹, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress² and rebuke³ and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.
4It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule⁴ the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives."
5When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah,
6Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard-those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.' "
8When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt , was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word:
10"Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.'
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?
12Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers⁵ deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?"
14Hezekiah 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 .
15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord : "O Lord , God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16Give ear, O Lord , and hear; open your eyes, O Lord , and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
17"It is true, O Lord , that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.
18They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands.
19Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord , are God."
20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.
21This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: " 'The Virgin⁶ Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
22Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said, "With my many chariots I have ascended⁷ the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars⁸, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest parts, the finest of its forests.
24I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."
25" 'Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained⁹ it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified¹⁰ cities into piles of stone.
26Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting¹¹ on the roof, scorched¹² before it grows up.
27" 'But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me.
28Because you rage against me and your insolence¹³ has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.'
29"This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: "This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.
31For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors¹⁴. The zeal¹⁵ of the Lord Almighty¹⁶ will accomplish this.
32"Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp¹⁷ against it.
33By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord .
34I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant."
35That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning-there were all the dead bodies!
36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

1 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

2 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

3 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

4 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

5 forefathers   

n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left. 它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

7 ascended   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He has ascended into heaven. 他已经升入了天堂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The climbers slowly ascended the mountain. 爬山运动员慢慢地登上了这座山。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 cedars   

雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The old cedars were badly damaged in the storm. 风暴严重损害了古老的雪松。
• Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 1黎巴嫩哪，开开你的门，任火烧灭你的香柏树。

9 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

10 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

11 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

12 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

13 insolence   

n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度

参考例句：

• I've had enough of your insolence, and I'm having no more. 我受够了你的侮辱，不能再容忍了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• How can you suffer such insolence? 你怎么能容忍这种蛮横的态度？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

15 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

16 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

17 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。