1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh.
2He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the senior priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, Amoz's son.
3They told Isaiah, "Hezekiah says this: 'Today is a day of trouble, disgrace, and rejection. It's like a woman in labor who can't deliver her baby.
4Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to insult the living God, and will punish him for the words Yahweh your God has heard. So please pray for the small number of us who are left.'"
5So King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah.
6Isaiah told them, "Say this to your master: 'Yahweh says, "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard, the insults the king of Assyria's officials have hurled at me.
7Look, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him die by the sword there." '"
8So Rabshakeh went back and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
9When Rabshakeh heard it said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, "Look, he has come out to fight against you," he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
10"Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: 'Don't let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."
11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, utterly destroying them. Will you be rescued?
12Have the gods of the nations my ancestors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar—saved them?
13Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, and the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”,
14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house and spread it out before Yahweh.
15Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.
16Yahweh, pay attention and listen. Yahweh, open your eyes and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to insult the living God.
17It is true, Yahweh, that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands,
18and have thrown their gods into the fire. This is because they were not real gods, but only wood and stone made by human hands. That is why they were able to destroy them.
19So now, Yahweh our God, please save us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone.”
20Then Isaiah, Amoz's son, sent a message to Hezekiah that said, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, 'You have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, and I have heard you.'
21"This is what Yahweh has said about him: 'The virgin daughter of Zion looks down on you and makes fun of you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you.
22Who have you insulted and spoken against? Against whom have you raised your voice and looked up proudly? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23Through your messengers, you have insulted the Lord, saying, 'With my many chariots, I have climbed to the highest mountains, to the deepest parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I will reach its furthest outpost, the forest of its fertile land.'
24You also said, 'I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With my own feet, I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.'
25Have you not heard that I planned this long ago and designed it in ancient times? Now I have made it happen, so that you would turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.
26That is why their people had little power. They were terrified and confused. They were like grass in the field, like tender green plants, like grass on the rooftops, or like grain scorched before it can grow tall.
27But I know when you sit down, when you go out, when you come in, and how furious you are with me.
28Because you are so furious with me and your arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth, and I will make you return by the same way you came.'
29"This will be a sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year, what sprouts from that. But in the third year, you will sow and harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
30The few survivors from the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. Yahweh's passion will accomplish this.
32"Therefore, Yahweh says this about the king of Assyria: 'He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with a shield or build an assault ramp against it.
33He will go back the same way he came, and he will not enter this city,' says Yahweh.
34'For I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.'"
35That night, the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When people woke up early in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.
36So King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went back, and lived in Nineveh.
37While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esar Haddon became king in his place.