HEZEKIAH SEEKS ISAIAH’S COUNSEL

37 When King Hezekiah heard their report,q he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,r and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace.s It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.t 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,a and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ”b

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6 who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraidc because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.d 7 I am about to put a spirite in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ”f