2 Chronicles 32:1–16

SENNACHERIB’S INVASION

32After Hezekiah’s faithful deeds, King Sennacherib of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended^C to break into them.^{j 2}Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he planned^D war on Jerusalem, ³so he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the water of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him. ⁴Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs^k and the stream that flowed through the land;^l they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?” ⁵Then Hezekiah strengthened his position by rebuilding the entire broken-down wall^m and heightening the towers and the other outside wall.ⁿ He repaired the supporting terraces^o of the city of David, and made an abundance of weapons and shields.

⁶He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them,^Ep saying, ⁷“Be strong and courageous!^q Don’t be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria or before the large army that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.^{r 8}He has only human strength,^F but we have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”^s So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

SENNACHERIB’S SERVANT’S SPEECH

⁹After this,^t while King Sennacherib of Assyria with all his armed forces besieged^A Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem against King Hezekiah of Judah and against all those of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰“This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you relying on that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? ¹¹Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, “The Lord our God will keep us from the grasp of the king of Assyria”? ¹²Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove his high places and his altars^u and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

¹³“ ‘Don’t you know^v what I and my predecessors have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have any of the national gods of the lands been able to rescue their land from my power? ¹⁴Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors completely destroyed was able to rescue his people from my power, that your God should be able to deliver you from my power?^{w 15}So now,^x don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, and don’t let him mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. How much less will your God rescue you from my power!’ ”

¹⁶His servants said more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah.