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Module 1: The Judicial Indictment and the Assyrian Crisis
And it came to pass, when king Chizqiyahu heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.
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Yeshayahu 37
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And he sent Elyaqim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Yeshayahu the prophet the son of Amotz.
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And they said unto him, Thus saith Chizqiyahu, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
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It may be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 thy Elohim will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Ashshuwr his master hath sent to reproach the living Elohim, and will reprove the words which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 thy Elohim hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
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So the servants of king Chizqiyahu came to Yeshayahu.
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The Sovereign Answer: The Rumour Protocol
And Yeshayahu said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Ashshuwr have blasphemed me.
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Behold, I will send a blast (ruach) upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
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The Blasphemous Letter of Sancherib
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Ashshuwr warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lakish.
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And he heard say concerning Tirhaqah king of Kush, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Chizqiyahu, saying,
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Thus shall ye speak to Chizqiyahu king of Yahudah, saying, Let not thy Elohim, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Yarushalayim shall not be given into the hand of the king of Ashshuwr.
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Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Ashshuwr have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
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Have the elohim of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Charan, and Retzeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
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Where is the king of Chamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvayim, Hena, and Ivah?
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The Sanctuary Protocol: Spreading the Letter
And Chizqiyahu received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Chizqiyahu went up into the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and spread it before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.
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The Intercession of the King
And Chizqiyahu prayed unto 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, saying,
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O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, Elohim of Yashar'el, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the Elohim, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
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Incline thine ear, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and hear; open thine eyes, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and see: and hear all the words of Sancherib, which hath sent to reproach the living Elohim.
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Of a truth, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, the kings of Ashshuwr have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
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And have cast their elohim into the fire: for they were no elohim, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
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Now therefore, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, even thou only.
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The Prophetic Verdict Against Ashshuwr
Then Yeshayahu the son of Amotz sent unto Chizqiyahu, saying, Thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Elohim of Yashar'el, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sancherib king of Ashshuwr:
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This is the word which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Tziyon, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Yarushalayim hath shaken her head at thee.
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Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Yashar'el.
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By thy servants hast thou reproached Adonai, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Labanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Karmel.
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I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
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The Sovereign Prerogative of Ancient Decrees
Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
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Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
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But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
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Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
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The Sign of the Remnant and the Biological Yield
And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
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And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Yahudah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
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For out of Yarushalayim shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Tziyon: the zeal of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts shall do this.
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The Absolute Blockade of the City
Therefore thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 concerning the king of Ashshuwr, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
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By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.
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For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant Dawid's sake.
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The Kinetic Strike: Termination of the Host
Then the malakh of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 went forth, and smote in the camp of the Ashshuwriym an hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
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The Flight and Execution of Sancherib
So Sancherib king of Ashshuwr departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
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And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisrok his elohim, that Adrammelek and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-chaddon his son reigned in his stead.