¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(A)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, ^(B)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(C)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

¹⁶ And when ^(A)the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^(B)to destroy it, ^(C)the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^(D)who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^(E)the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^(F)Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁴ And the Lord ^(A)relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^(A)enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^(B)you have made heaven and earth. ^17 (C)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^(D)all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, ^(E)the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and ^(A)have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. ⁷ They also ^(B)shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore ^(C)the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them ^(D)an object of horror, of astonishment, ^(E)and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, ^(F)our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰ Now ^(G)it is in my heart ^(H)to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not now be negligent, ^(I)for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

³⁹ but ^(A)if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You ^(B)might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice,

^4 (A)It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(B)the remnant that is left.’”

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help

37 ^(A)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

²⁵ But Hezekiah ^(A)did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for ^(B)his heart was proud. Therefore ^(C)wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ But Hezekiah ^(D)humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.