Sennacherib Reproaches Yahweh

⁹ After this ^(A)Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was ^[a]besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting that you are remaining in Jerusalem under siege? ¹¹ Is not Hezekiah inciting you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, “Yahweh our God will deliver us from the ^[b]hand of the king of Assyria”? ^12 (B)Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and ^[c]Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall offer offerings up in smoke”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? ^(C)Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand? ^14 (D)Who was there among all the gods of these nations which my fathers devoted to destruction, who could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵ So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or incite you like this, and do not believe him, for ^(E)no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’”

¹⁶ His servants spoke further against Yahweh God and against His servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ He also wrote letters to ^[d]reproach Yahweh, the God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “^(F)As the gods of the nations of the lands ^[e]have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.” ^18 (G)And they called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to instill fear and terrify them, so that they might capture the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke ^[f]of the God of Jerusalem as of ^(H)the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men’s hands.