Hezekiah goes to the temple and sends to Isaiah, who tells him not to be afraid. When Sennacherib sends a threatening letter, Hezekiah spreads it before the LORD and prays. The angel of the LORD strikes down 185,000 Assyrians, and Sennacherib goes home.
1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes , and covered himself with sackcloth , and went into the house of the LORD .
2 And he sent Eliakim , who was over the household , and Shebna the scribe , and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth , unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz .
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah , This day is a day of trouble , and of rebuke , and of blasphemy : for the children are come to the birth , and there is not strength to bring forth .
4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh , whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God , and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard : wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left .
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah .
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master , Thus saith the LORD , Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard , wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour , and return to his own land ; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land .
8 So Rabshakeh returned , and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah : for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish .
9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia , He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah , saying ,
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah , saying , Let not thy God , in whom thou trustest , deceive thee, saying , Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria .
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly ; and shalt thou be delivered ?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed , as Gozan , and Haran , and Rezeph , and the children of Eden which were in Telassar ?
13 Where is the king of Hamath , and the king of Arphad , and the king of the city of Sepharvaim , Hena , and Ivah ?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers , and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD , and spread it before the LORD .
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD , saying ,
16 O LORD of hosts , God of Israel , that dwellest between the cherubims , thou art the God , even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth : thou hast made heaven and earth .
17 Incline thine ear , O LORD , and hear ; open thine eyes , O LORD , and see : and hear all the words of Sennacherib , which hath sent to reproach the living God .
18 Of a truth , LORD , the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations , and their countries ,
19 And have cast their gods into the fire : for they were no gods , but the work of men's hands , wood and stone : therefore they have destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O LORD our God , save us from his hand , that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD , even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah , saying , Thus saith the LORD God of Israel , Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria :
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin , the daughter of Zion , hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee .
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed ? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice , and lifted up thine eyes on high ? even against the Holy One of Israel .
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord , and hast said , By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains , to the sides of Lebanon ; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border , and the forest of his Carmel .
25 I have digged , and drunk water ; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places .
26 Hast thou not heard long ago , how I have done it; and of ancient times , that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps .
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power , they were dismayed and confounded : they were as the grass of the field , and as the green herb , as the grass on the housetops , and as corn blasted before it be grown up .
28 But I know thy abode , and thy going out , and thy coming in , and thy rage against me.
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult , is come up into mine ears , therefore will I put my hook in thy nose , and my bridle in thy lips , and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest .
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap , and plant vineyards , and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward , and bear fruit upward :
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant , and they that escape out of mount Zion : the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria , He shall not come into this city , nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields , nor cast a bank against it.
34 By the way that he came , by the same shall he return , and shall not come into this city , saith the LORD .
35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth , and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning , behold, they were all dead corpses .
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed , and went and returned , and dwelt at Nineveh .
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god , that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword ; and they escaped into the land of Armenia : and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.