Isaiah 37:1-20

1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

2He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

3They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”

5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

6who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.

7I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

8When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish, he left and found him fighting against Libnah.

9The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10“Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.

11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?

12Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’”

14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

15Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

16Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God  — you alone  — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

17Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

18Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.

19They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made from wood and stone by human hands. So they have destroyed them.

20Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God  — you alone.