Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to [a]deliver them. 4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that [b]the king had left Lachish. 9Now he heard them say regarding Tirhakah king of [c]Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of [d]Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? 12Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

14Then Hezekiah took the [e]letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and [f]spread it out before the LORD. 15Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying, 16“LORD of armies, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. 17Incline Your ear, LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to taunt the living God. 18Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, 19and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20But now LORD, our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, [g]LORD, are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:

“She has shown contempt for you and derided you,

The virgin daughter of Zion;

The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you!

23“Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?

And against whom have you raised your voice

And [h]haughtily raised your eyes?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

24“Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,

And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,

To the remotest parts of Lebanon;

And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice junipers.

And I will come to its [i]highest peak, its thickest forest.

25‘I dug wells and drank waters,

And with the sole of my feet I dried up

All the canals of [j]Egypt.’

26“Have you not heard?

Long ago I did it,

From ancient times I planned it.

Now I have brought it about

That you would turn fortified cities into ruined heaps.

27“Therefore their inhabitants were [k]powerless,

They were shattered and put to shame;

They were like the vegetation of the field and the green grass,

Like grass on the housetops [l]that is scorched before it has grown.

28“But I know your sitting down,

Your going out, your coming in,

And your raging against Me.

29“Because of your raging against Me

And because your complacency has come up to My ears,

I will put My hook in your nose

And My bridle in your lips,

And I will turn you back by the way that you came.

30“Then this shall be the sign for you: [m]you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows from the same, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of armies will perform this.”’

33“Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the LORD. 35‘For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of [n]the 185,000 were [o]dead. 37So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and [p]returned home and lived in Nineveh. 38Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.