2 Chronicles 32:9-19

New American Standard Bible

Sennacherib Undermines Hezekiah

⁹After 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 of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: ‘On what are you trusting that you are staying in Jerusalem under siege? ¹¹Is Hezekiah not misleading you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, “The Lord our God will save us from the ^[b]hand of the king of Assyria”? ¹²^(B)Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and ^[c]Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall ^[d]burn incense”? ¹³Do 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 those lands at all able to save their land from my hand? ¹⁴^(D)Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could save his people from my hand, that your God would be able to save you from my hand? ¹⁵Now then, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for ^(E)no god of any nation or kingdom was able to save his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God save you from my hand?’”

¹⁶His servants spoke further against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote letters to insult the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “^(F)As the gods of the nations of the lands ^[e]have not saved their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not save His people from my hand.” ¹⁸^(G)They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city. ¹⁹They spoke ^[f]of the God of Jerusalem as they did against ^(H)the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.

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Footnotes

2 Chronicles 32:9 Lit against
2 Chronicles 32:11 Lit palm
2 Chronicles 32:12 Lit Jerusalem, saying,
2 Chronicles 32:12 Lit offer up in smoke
2 Chronicles 32:17 Lit who have
2 Chronicles 32:19 Lit to

2 Chronicles 32:9-19

International Standard Version

Sennacherib Blasphemes God^(A)

⁹After this, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his messengers to Jerusalem while he was in the middle of a vigorous attack on Lachish. They delivered this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the people of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem:

¹⁰“This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you leaning on that makes you stay behind while Jerusalem comes under siege? ¹¹Isn’t Hezekiah lying to you so he can hand you over to die by famine and thirst? After all, he’s telling you “The Lord our God will deliver us from the king of Assyria’s control.”^[a] ¹²Isn’t this the very same Hezekiah who removed this god’s high places and altars? Isn’t this the same Hezekiah who^[b] issued this order to Judah and Jerusalem: “You are to worship in front of only one altar and burn your sacrifices only on it.”? ¹³Don’t you know what my predecessors^[c] have done to all the other people in other lands? Were the gods of the people who lived in those lands able to deliver their countries out of my control?^[d] ¹⁴What god, out of all the gods of those nations that my predecessors^[e] utterly destroyed, has been able to deliver his people from my control^[f] or from the control^[g] of my predecessors?^[h] ¹⁵Now therefore, don’t let Hezekiah lie to you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, because no god of any nation has been able to deliver his people from my control^[i] or from the control^[j] of my predecessors. So how much less will your God deliver you from me?’”^[k]

¹⁶King Sennacherib’s^[l] spokesmen said even worse things against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷Sennacherib^[m] also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the Lord God of Israel: “Just as the gods of the nations in other^[n] lands haven’t delivered their people from my control,^[o] so also the god of Hezekiah won’t deliver his people from me!”^[p] ¹⁸His spokesmen^[q] shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city. ¹⁹In doing so,^[r] they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.