2 Chronicles 32:1–16

Sennacherib Invades Judah

¹After these ¹acts of faithfulness ^aSennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, and ²thought to break into them for himself.

²Then Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he had set his face to make war on Jerusalem,

³and he took counsel with his commanders and his warriors to stop up the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.

⁴So many people gathered ^aand stopped up all the springs and ^bthe stream which flowed in the midst of the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”

⁵And he strengthened himself and ^arebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and ¹erected towers on it, and built ^banother outside wall and strengthened the ^2cMillo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number.

⁶He also put military commanders over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and ^aspoke to their hearts, saying,

⁷“^aBe strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the multitude that is with him; ^bfor the one with us is greater than the one with him.

⁸“With him is only ^aan arm of flesh, but ^bwith us is Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were sustained by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Sennacherib Reproaches Yahweh

⁹After this ^aSennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was ¹besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,

¹⁰“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting that you are remaining in Jerusalem under siege?

¹¹‘Is not Hezekiah inciting you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, “Yahweh our God will deliver us from the ¹hand of the king of Assyria”?

¹²‘^aHas not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and ¹Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall offer offerings up in smoke”?

¹³‘Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? ^aWere the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand?

¹⁴‘^aWho was there among all the gods of these nations which my fathers devoted to destruction, who could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?

¹⁵‘So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or incite you like this, and do not believe him, for ^ano god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’”

¹⁶His servants spoke further against Yahweh God and against His servant Hezekiah.