This is the vision that Isaiah (son of Amoz) saw and what he prophesied about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah:

After Hezekiah had been Judah’s king for 14 years, King Sennacherib of Assyria launched an attack against Judah’s fortified cities and conquered them.

Sennacherib sent his right-hand man (whom they call the Rabshakeh) to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem along with an army to intimidate him. The Rabshakeh came from Lachish, formerly a great Judean city, and stationed himself along the highway that skirts the field where they launder the cloth, near the aqueduct for the upper pool.

Three men from Hezekiah’s court came down from the palace to meet him there. They were Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the palace administrator; Shebna, the royal secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder.

The Rabshakeh told them to relay to Hezekiah these words of Sennacherib, the great king of Assyria. Rabshakeh: How come you’re so sure of yourself?

Or maybe you’ll tell me, “We are putting our trust in the Eternal One our God.” Hah! I don’t think so. Don’t forget that Hezekiah went around destroying all His altars and wrecking His places of worship, insisting that Judah and Jerusalem must worship before the one altar in Jerusalem.

Come on now. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria: I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can do your part and deliver the same number of riders.

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah appealed to the Rabshakeh. Hezekiah’s Men: Please speak to us, your servants, in a language we understand—Aramaic—not in Judah’s common language, so that the people on the wall who are trying to listen in can’t understand.

“Don’t listen to Hezekiah’s lies. Your king won’t be able to save you.

Be careful or Hezekiah will deceive you with his empty claim: ‘The Eternal One will surely save us.’ Look around. We’ve defeated everyone we’ve fought—every capital of every country. And did their gods save them? No.

To their credit, the people didn’t say anything. Hezekiah had commanded them not to answer the Rabshakeh, and indeed they just sat there silently.

Then the three men who had gone for Hezekiah—Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the palace administrator; Shebna, the royal secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder—returned to their king. In great distress, they tore their clothes and told him everything the Rabshakeh said.

When King Hezekiah heard the report, he, too, was terribly distressed. He tore his clothes, changed into sackcloth, and went to the Eternal’s house.

Hezekiah’s Men (to Isaiah): Hezekiah is terribly upset. The king said, “This is a calamitous day. It is marked by anguish, chastisement, and disgrace. Things are as desperate for us as for a pregnant woman weakened by labor who cannot deliver the baby because she is physically spent from the birth pangs.”

Hezekiah implores you, Isaiah, “Pray for the remnant that is left here in Jerusalem. Maybe the Eternal One your God will notice how blasphemous the Rabshakeh is (on orders from his master the Assyrian king) and punish them because of what the living God heard him say.”

Isaiah: Go back to Hezekiah, your lord and king, and give him these sure words of confidence and hope: The Eternal One says, “Don’t let the blasphemous threats delivered by the servants of the Assyrian king make you doubtful or afraid.

Now the Assyrian king heard that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, had allied himself with the Judeans and was coming to fight against him. The news prompted him to send messengers to Hezekiah with another message.

Rabshakeh: Tell the Judean king, Hezekiah, “Don’t listen to your God, whom you’re counting on, when He tells you that the king of Assyria won’t conquer Jerusalem.

When Hezekiah got the written message, he read it. Then he took it to the temple, spread it out before the Eternal One,

Hezekiah: Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, who sits enthroned above the winged guardians—You alone are God. Only You are supreme over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth. And only You have made the heavens above, the earth below, and everything in them.

And Hezekiah got a response. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, relayed this to him: Isaiah: The Eternal, Israel’s God, the God to whom you prayed concerning the Assyrian king, has this to say against Sennacherib: Eternal One: The virgin daughter of Zion, lovely lady that she is, despises you, mocks you. The daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head and rejects you.

(to Hezekiah) Here is a sign for you: you’ll know it’s true by seeing that in three years, life will be normal again: This year you’ll live off of what grows spontaneously. Next year, you’ll live off of what grows from that. In the third year, you’ll do the planting and harvesting—fields and vineyards—and eat from what grows.

Meanwhile, back in Judah, Hezekiah became very sick and was about to die. Learning of it, Isaiah, Amoz’s son, went to visit him. Isaiah: Here is what the Eternal One has to say: Eternal One: Get your affairs in order. You are going to die. You are not going to recover from this.

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and started praying.

Hezekiah: Eternal One, I beg you to remember how I have followed the path You set before me, and how I did so with all my heart. Remember how I have done what You wanted with sincerity of purpose every step of the way. Then Hezekiah broke down and wept. He wept and wept.