Isaiah Assures Deliverance

19 And aso it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with bsackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to 1bring them forth. 4 cIt may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to dreproach the living God, and will erebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 fAnd Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be gafraid of the words which you have heard, with which the hservants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Surely I will send ia spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer

8 Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed jfrom Lachish. 9 And kthe king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God lin whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 12 mHave the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of nEden who were in Telassar? 13 oWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

14 pAnd Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One qwho dwells between the cherubim, rYou are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 sIncline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; topen Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, uwhich he has sent to reproach the living God. 17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were vnot gods, but wthe work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, xthat all the kingdoms of the earth may yknow that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: z‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, aI have heard.’ 21 This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

‘The virgin, bthe daughter of Zion,

Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;

The daughter of Jerusalem

cHas shaken her head behind your back!

22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice,

And lifted up your eyes on high?

Against dthe Holy One of Israel.

23 eBy your messengers you have reproached the Lord,

And said: f“By the multitude of my chariots

I have come up to the height of the mountains,

To the limits of Lebanon;

I will cut down its tall cedars

And its choice cypress trees;

I will enter the extremity of its borders,

To its fruitful forest.

24 I have dug and drunk strange water,

And with the soles of my feet I have gdried up

All the brooks of defense.”

25 ‘Did you not hear long ago

How hI made it,

From ancient times that I formed it?

Now I have brought it to pass,

That iyou should be

For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power;

They were dismayed and confounded;

They were as the grass of the field

And the green herb,

As jthe grass on the housetops

And grain blighted before it is grown.

27 ‘But kI know your dwelling place,

Your going out and your coming in,

And your rage against Me.

28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult

Have come up to My ears,

Therefore lI will put My hook in your nose

And My bridle in your lips,

And I will turn you back

mBy the way which you came.

29 ‘This shall be a nsign to you:

You shall eat this year such as grows 2of itself,

And in the second year what springs from the same;

Also in the third year sow and reap,

Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

30 oAnd the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah

Shall again take root downward,

And bear fruit upward.

31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,

And those who escape from Mount Zion.

pThe zeal of the Lord 3of hosts will do this.’

32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:

‘He shall qnot come into this city,

Nor shoot an arrow there,

Nor come before it with shield,

Nor build a siege mound against it.

33 By the way that he came,

By the same shall he return;

And he shall not come into this city,’

Says the Lord.

34 ‘For rI will sdefend this city, to save it

For My own sake and tfor My servant David’s sake.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

35 And uit came to pass on a certain night that the 4angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at vNineveh.