^9 (A)After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ^10 (B)“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ^(C)“The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ^12 (D)Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on ^(E)it”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? ^(F)Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my ^(G)hand? ¹⁵ Now therefore, ^(H)do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ ”

¹⁶ Furthermore, his servants spoke against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷ He also wrote letters to revile the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, ^(I)“As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my ^(J)hand.” ^18 (K)Then they called out with a loud voice in ^[a]Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth—^(L)the work of men’s hands.