9 And fhe heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of gHamath, and the king of gArphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, 16 O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: hthou hast made heaven and earth. 17 iIncline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. 18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the †nations, and their countries, 19 And have †cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, jthat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.

21 Then aIsaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22 This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him;

The virgin, kthe daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn;

The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

23  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?

And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice,

And lifted up thine eyes on high?

Even against the Holy One of Israel.

24  †By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said,

By the multitude of my chariots am I come up

To the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon;

And I will cut down †the tall mcedars thereof, and the choice mfir trees thereof:

And I will enter into the height of his border, and ||nthe forest of his Carmel.

25  I have digged, and drunk water;

And with the sole of my feet have I dried up all othe rivers of the ||obesieged places.

26  ||Hast thou not heard long ago, how pI have done it;

And of ancient times, that pI have formed it?

Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste

qDefenced cities into ruinous heaps.

27  Therefore their inhabitants were †of small power,

rThey were dismayed and confounded:

They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb,

As the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

28  But I know thy ||abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in,

And thy rage against me.

29  Because thy rage against me, and thy stumult, is come up into mine ears,

Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and tmy bridle in thy lips,

And I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

30  And this shall be a sign unto thee,

Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself;

And the second year that which springeth of the same:

And uin the third year sow ye, and reap,

And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

31  And †the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah

Shall again wtake root downward, and bear fruit upward:

32  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth xa remnant,

And †they that escape out of mount Zion:

The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

33  Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria,

yHe shall not come into this city,

zNor shoot an arrow there,

Nor come before it with †shields,

Nor acast a bank against it.

34  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,

And shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.

35  For bI will defend this city to save it

For mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

36 cThen the angel of the Lord went forth, and dsmote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and ewent and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of †Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.