2 Kings 19:9-37

9When he heard them say about Tirhakah king of 1Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10“This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of 2Judah: ‘Do not 3let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “4Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? 125Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: 6Gozan, 7Haran, Rezeph, and 8the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 139Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

14Then 10Hezekiah took the 11letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and 12spread it out before the Lord. 15Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord, God of Israel, 1314enthroned above the cherubim, 15You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 1616Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; 17open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent 18to taunt the living God. 17It is true, Lord; the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18and have 19hurled their gods into the fire; 20for they were not gods, but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19But now, Lord our God, please, save us from his hand, 21so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, 22Lord, are God.”

20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 23I have heard you.’ 21This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: ‘She, 24the virgin daughter of Zion, has shown contempt for you and mocked you; She, the daughter of Jerusalem, 25has shaken her head behind you!22Whom have you 26taunted and 27blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, And 28haughtily raised your eyes? Against the 29Holy One of Israel!2330Through your messengers you have taunted the Lord, And you have said, “With my many chariots I went up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choicest junipers. And I entered its farthest resting place, its 31thickest forest.24I dug wells and drank foreign waters, And with the soles of my feet I 32dried up All the streams of Egypt.”

25‘33Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; From ancient times I planned it. 34Now I have brought it about, That you would turn fortified cities into ruined heaps.26Therefore their inhabitants were 35powerless, They were shattered and put to shame. They were 36like the vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.27But 37I know your sitting down, Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me.28Because of your raging against Me, And because your complacency has come up to My ears, I 38will put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And 39I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

29‘Then this shall be 40the sign for you: 41you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows by itself, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 3042The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and survivors 43out of Mount Zion. 44The zeal of 45the Lord will perform this.

32‘Therefore this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “46He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield nor heap up an assault ramp against it. 3347By the way that he came, by 48the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares the Lord. 34‘49For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and 50for My servant David’s sake.’”

3551Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of 52the 185,000 were 53dead. 36So 54Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and 55returned home, and lived at 56Nineveh. 37Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that 5758Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to 59the land of Ararat. And his son 60Esarhaddon became king in his place.