Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

1When King Hezekiah heard Eliakim’s report,a he tore his clothes, put on a sackcloth covering, entered the LORD’s Temple, 2and sent Eliakim the household supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests—all of them covered in sackcloth—to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. 3They announced to him:

“This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy,b because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. 4Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.’”

5That is how the King Hezekiah’s servants approached Isaiah.

6In reply, Isaiah responded to them, “Here’s how you’re to report to your master:

‘This is what the LORD says: “Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Look! I’m going to cause an attitudec to grow within him so that he’ll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I’ll make him die by the sword in his own land!”’”

Sennacherib Defies God

(2 Chronicles 29:17-19)

8So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9When he heard that it was being said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,d “Look! He has come out to attack you!” he again sent messengers to Hezekiah.

The messengers were told, 10“This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling youe “Jerusalem won’t be turned over to the controlf of Assyria’s king.” 11‘Look! you’ve heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands—they completely destroyed them! Will you be spared? 12Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s descendants in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Help

14Hezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the LORD’s Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD. 15Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, “LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. 16Turng your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! 17Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, 18throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren’t gods but rather were the product of men’s handiwork—wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. 19Now, LORD our God, I’m praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!”

God’s Answer through Isaiah the Prophet

20Then Amoz’s son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.’”

21“This is what the LORD has spoken against him:

‘She despises and mocks you,

this virgin daughter of Zion!

Behind your back she shakes her head,

this daughter of Jerusalem!

22Who are you reproaching and blaspheming?

Against whom have you raised your voice?

And against whomh have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

23By your messengers you have insulted the LORD.

You have claimed,

“With my many chariots

I ascended the heights of the mountains,

including the remotest regions of Lebanon;

I cut down its tall cedars

and the best of its cypress trees.

I entered its most remote lodging place

and its most fruitfuli forest.

24I myself dug for and drank foreign water.

With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!”

25‘Didn’t you hear?

I determined it years ago!

I planned this from ancient times,

and now I’ve brought it to pass,

to turn fortified cities

into piles of ruins

26while their inhabitants, lacking strength,

stand dismayed and confused.

They were like vegetation out in the fields,

and like green herbs—

just as grass that grows on a housetop

dries out before it can grow.

27‘But when you sit down,

when you go out,

and when you come in,

I’m aware of it!

28Because of your rage against me,

your complacency has reached my ears.

I’ll put my hook into your nostrils

and my bit into your mouth.

Then I’ll turn you back on the road

by which you came.’

29“This will serve as a sign for you: you’ll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you’ll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoyj their fruit. 30Those who survive from Judah’s household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively,k 31because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORDl will bring this about.”

32“Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won’t approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it. 33He’ll return on the same route by which he came—he won’t come to this city,’ declares the LORD. 34‘I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.’”

God Destroys the Assyrian Army

(2 Chronicles 32:20-21)

35That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israelm arose, all 185,000 soldiersn were dead. 36As a result, King Sennacherib of Assyria left and returned to Nineveh where he lived. 37Later on, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelecho and Sharezer killed him with a sword and fled into the territory of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’sp son Esarhaddon became king in his place.