⁹ After this Sennach′erib king of Assyria, who was besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezeki′ah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus says Sennach′erib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you relying, that you stand siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Is not Hezeki′ah misleading you, that he may give you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ¹² Has not this same Hezeki′ah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, “Before one altar you shall worship, and upon it you shall burn your sacrifices”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵ Now therefore do not let Hezeki′ah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!’”

¹⁶ And his servants said still more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezeki′ah. ¹⁷ And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord the God of Israel and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezeki′ah will not deliver his people from my hand.” ¹⁸ And they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were upon the wall, to frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.