1 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the Lord.
2 He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell the prophet Isaiah:
3 These are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born.
4 Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.
5 When these leaders went to Isaiah,
6 he told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah:I am the Lord. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria.
7 I will upset him with rumours about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death.
8 Meanwhile, the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.
9 About this same time the king of Assyria learnt that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:
10 Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me.
11 You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe?
12 The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them?
13 The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.
14 After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see.
15 He prayed: Lord God of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures. You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world.
16 But just look how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.
17 It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts.
18 They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshipped.
19 But you are our Lord and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only God.
20 Isaiah went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:Hezekiah, I heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.
21 Now this is what I say to that king:The people of Jerusalemhate and make fun of you;they laughbehind your back.
22 Sennacherib, you cursed,shouted, and sneered at me,the holy God of Israel.
23 You let your officialsinsult me, the Lord.And here is what youhave said about yourself,“I led my chariotsto the highest heightsof Lebanon's mountains.I went deep into its forest,cutting down the best cedarand cypress trees.
24 I dried up every streamin the land of Egypt,and I drank waterfrom wells I had dug.”
25 Sennacherib, now listento me, the Lord.I planned all this long ago.And you don't even realizethat I alone am the onewho decided that youwould do these things.I let you make ruinsof fortified cities.
26 Their people became weak,terribly confused.They were like wild flowersor tender young grassgrowing on a flat roof,scorched before it matures.
27 I know all about you,even how fiercely angryyou are with me.
28 I have seen your prideand the tremendous hatredyou have for me.Now I will put a hookin your nose,a bit in your mouth,then I will send you backto where you came from.
29 Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest.
30 Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit.
31 I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.
32 I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack.
33 As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem.
34 I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.
35 That same night the Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand of them. And so the next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies.
36 After this King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh.
37 One day he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.