2 Kings 19:8-19

English Standard Version

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(A)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(B)Lachish. ^9 (C)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God ^(D)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(E)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (F)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(G)Gozan, ^(H)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(I)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (J)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(K)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(L)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(M)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. ^16 (N)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(O)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(P)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(Q)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(R)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(S)you, O Lord, are God alone.”