Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 ^(A)In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(B)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was ^(C)twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(D)Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ^3 (E)And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ^4 (F)He removed the high places and broke the ^(G)pillars and cut down ^(H)the Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^(I)the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).^{[a] 5 (J)}He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(K)so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ^6 (L)For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. ^7 (M)And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ^(N)he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ^8 (O)He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(P)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(Q)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, ¹⁰ and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹ The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ^(R)Halah, and on the ^(S)Habor, ^(T)the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

^13 (U)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my^[a] hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me^[b] and come out to me. Then ^(A)each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(B)a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^(C)honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ^33 (D)Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ^34 (E)Where are the gods of ^(F)Hamath and ^(G)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^(H)Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, ^(I)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(A)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(B)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(C)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ^16 (D)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(E)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(F)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(G)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(H)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(I)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria ^(J)I have heard.

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or ^(A)cast up a siege mound against it. ^33 (B)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^34 (C)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake ^(D)and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵ And that night ^(E)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(F)Nineveh. ³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(G)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.