1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s temple.
2He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
3They told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, disgrace, and humiliation. It's like a woman in labor who can’t deliver her child.
4Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to insult the living God, and Yahweh your God will rebuke him for the words he 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, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the Assyrian king’s messengers have insulted me.
7Listen, I will put a spirit in him so he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and there I will make him die by the sword.’”
8So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
9The king of Assyria received news about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that he was coming to fight against him. When he heard this, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah, saying,
10“Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, this: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other lands, utterly destroying them. Do you think you will be safe?
12Did the gods of the nations my ancestors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar—save them?
13Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the kings of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s temple and spread it out before Yahweh.
15Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,
16“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17Listen, Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent someone to insult the living God.
18It is true, Yahweh, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their lands.
19They threw their gods into the fire because they weren't real gods, but just wood and stone statues made by human hands. That’s why they destroyed them.
20So now, Yahweh our God, save us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone are Yahweh.
21Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son, sent this message to Hezekiah: “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to me against Sennacherib, the king of Assyria,
22this is what Yahweh has declared about him: The virgin daughter of Zion looks down on you and mocks you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you.
23Who have you insulted and spoken against? Against whom have you raised your voice and looked up proudly? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24Through your servants, you have insulted the Lord. You said, “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 farthest peak, the forest of its fertile land.
25I have dug wells and drunk water. I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt with my foot.”
26Haven’t you heard that I planned this a long time ago and designed it in ancient times? Now I have made it happen, so it would be your role to destroy fortified cities, turning them into piles of rubble.
27That’s why their people had little strength. They were terrified and confused. They were like grass in the field, like tender green plants, like grass on the rooftops, or like a field withered before it fully grew.
28But I know when you sit down, when you go out, when you come in, and your fury against me.
29Because you are 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 way you came.’
30“This will be the sign for you: This year, you will eat what grows by itself. Next year, you will eat what sprouts from that. But in the third year, you will sow and harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31The remaining people of Judah who have escaped will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32For a remnant will come out of Jerusalem, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The intense dedication of Yahweh of Armies will accomplish this.’
33“Therefore, Yahweh says this about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield, nor build a siege ramp against it.
34He will return by the same way he came, and he will not enter this city,’ says Yahweh.
35‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”
36Then Yahweh’s angel went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When people woke up early in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.
37So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, left, went back, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.
38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with swords. They escaped into the land of Ararat, and his son Esar Haddon became king in his place.