9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,a was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you dependx on deceivey you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliverz them—the gods of Gozan,a Harran,b Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”c

Hezekiah’s Prayer

19:14–19pp—Isa 37:14–20

14 Hezekiah received the letterd from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,e you alonef are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear,g Lord, and hear;h open your eyes,i Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not godsj but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.k 19 Now, Lord our God, deliverl us from his hand, so that all the kingdomsm of the earth may known that you alone, Lord, are God.”