6 He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them,D,p 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,E 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

9 After this,t while King Sennacherib of Assyria with all his armed forces besiegedF 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? 11 Isn’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”? 12 Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove his high places and his altarsu and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

13 “ ‘Don’t you knowv 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? 14 Who 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!’ ”

16 His servants said more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17 He also wrote letters to mock the Lord, the God of Israel, saying against him:

Just like the national gods of the lands that did not rescue their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not rescue his people from my power.a

18 Then they called out loudly in HebrewA to the people of Jerusalem, who were on the wall, to frighten and discourage them in order that he might capture the city. 19 They spoke against the God of Jerusalem like they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which were made by human hands.

DELIVERANCE FROM SENNACHERIB

20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven,b 21 and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword.c

22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the power of all others. He gave them rest* d on every side.