⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.^(A)

³⁵ Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the fuller’s field.^(A)

⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.^{(A) 7} I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”]]^[a](B)

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ Now the king^[b] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,^{(C) 10} “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.^{(D) 11} See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?^{(E) 12} Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?^{(F) 13} Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of Laar, Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.^{(G) 17} Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.^{(H) 18} Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands^{(I) 19} and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed.^{(J) 20} So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”^(K)

²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,^{(L) 22} this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward,^{(T) 32} for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.^(U)

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. ³⁵ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”^(V)

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies.^{(W) 37} Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁸ As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.^(X)

¹⁵ He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you: Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.^(A)

⁶ It opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.