Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

19 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,^(A) and went into the Lord’s temple.^{(B) 2} He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,^(C) and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth,^(D) to the prophet Isaiah^(E) son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth,^(F) but there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God^(G) will hear^(H) all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke^(I) him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”^(J)

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶ who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid^(K) because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants^(L) have blasphemed^(M) me. ⁷ I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land,^(N) where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”^(O)

Sennacherib’s Departing Threat

⁸ When^(P) the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish,^(Q) he left and found him fighting against Libnah.^{(R) 9} The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely,^(S) deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.^{(T) 11} Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: They completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹² Did the gods of the nations^(U) that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—nations such as Gozan,^(V) Haran,^(W) Rezeph, and the Edenites^(X) in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of^[a] Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’” ^(Y)