1And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth, and went into the Temple of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim, the household overseer, Shebna, the scribe, and the elders of the priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Isaiah, the prophet, son of Amoz. 3And they told him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of trouble, insults, and blasphemy; as when a child’s time to be born has come, and there is not strength for the delivery. 4It may be that the LORD, your God, will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria has sent to ridicule the living God, and will rebuke him for the words which the LORD, your God, has heard; so lift up your prayer for the remnant that still survives.’” 5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Be not afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him to hear a report that will cause him to return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

9And then King Sennacherib received a report about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that “He is coming to wage war with you.” And when he heard that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, to say, 10“Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God, in Whom you trust, deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not fall into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other lands, completely destroying them; and shall you be saved? 12Did the gods of other nations save them which my fathers destroyed - Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telasar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

14Hezekiah received and read the letter from the messengers, and Hezekiah went up unto the Temple of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying, 16“O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, Who dwells between the cherubim, You alone are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth. 17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD; see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, that he has sent to defy the living God. 18Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have indeed laid all those nations and their countries waste, 19And have thrown their gods (idols) into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore, they have destroyed them. 20Now, O LORD, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, and You alone, are the LORD.”

21Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 22This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises and mocks you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem wags her head at you. 23Who is it that you have reviled and blasphemed? And against Whom have you raised your voice, and lifted your haughty eyes? You (Sennacherib) have arrogantly spoken against the Holy One of Israel. 24Through your emissaries you have defied the LORD, by saying, ‘By my many chariots have I ascended to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I have entered its remote borders, and even its forest of Carmel. 25I have dug wells, and drunk water in foreign countries; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places such as Egypt.’ 26Have you not heard? How long ago, how I (the LORD) have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay to waste fortified cities and turn them into ruinous heaps. 27That is why their inhabitants had little power, were dismayed, and confounded; they were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blighted before it is grown up. 28But I know where you (Sennacherib) live, and when you come and go, and how you rage against Me. 29Because your rage against Me, and your insolence, has reached My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the same way that you came. ”’”

30“And this shall be a sign unto you (Hezekiah), You shall eat this year what grows of itself; and the second year what springs of the same; but in the third year, sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31And once more shall a remnant of the house of Judah that has escaped the ravages of siege shall again put roots down, and grow up and flourish; 32For out of Jerusalem shall there come forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who survived. The zeal of the LORD Almighty shall do this.”

33Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a siege mound against it. 34By the way that he came, he will return, and shall not enter this city’, says the LORD. 35‘For I will defend this city and save it for My Own sake, and for My servant, David's, sake.’”

36Then the Angel of the LORD went forth, and killed a hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when surviving Assyrians in the camp arose early in the morning, behold, the dead bodies were everywhere. 37So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew, returning and dwelling at Nineveh. 38And then one day, while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with the sword; and fled into the land of Ararat {Armenia}; and a third son, Esar-haddon, reigned in his stead.