1And it came to be, when Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu heard it, that he tore his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of יהוה,

2and sent Elyaqim, who was over the household, and Sheḇnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, to Yeshayahu the prophet, son of Amots.

3And they said to him, “Thus said Ḥizqiyahu, ‘This day is a day of distress and rebuke and scorn, for the children have come to birth but there is no power to bring forth.

4‘It could be that יהוה your Elohim does hear all the words of the Raḇshaqĕh, whom his master the sovereign of Ashshur has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and shall rebuke the words which יהוה your Elohim has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

5And the servants of Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu came to Yeshayahu,

6and Yeshayahu said to them, “Say this to your master, ‘Thus said יהוה, “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the sovereign of Ashshur have reviled Me.

7“See, I am putting a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a report and return to his own land. And I shall cause him to fall by the sword in his land.” ’ ”

8And the Raḇshaqĕh returned and found the sovereign of Ashshur fighting against Liḇnah, for he had heard that he had left Laḵish.

9And when the sovereign heard concerning Tirhaqah sovereign of Kush, “See, he has come out to fight against you,” he again sent messengers to Ḥizqiyahu, saying,

10“Speak to Ḥizqiyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah, saying, ‘Do not let your Elohim in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Yerushalayim is not given into the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur.”

11‘See, you have heard what the sovereigns of Ashshur have done to all lands by putting them under the ban. And are you going to be delivered?

12‘Have the mighty ones of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed: Gozan and Ḥaran and Retseph, and the sons of Ěḏen who were in Telassar?

13‘Where is the sovereign of Ḥamath, and the sovereign of Arpaḏ, and the sovereign of the city of Sepharwayim, Hĕna, and Iwwah?’ ”

14And Ḥizqiyahu received the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them, and went up to the House of יהוה. And Ḥizqiyahu spread it before יהוה.

15And Ḥizqiyahu prayed before יהוה, and said, “O יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, the One who dwells between the keruḇim, You are Elohim, You alone, of all the reigns of the earth. You have made the heavens and earth.

16“Incline Your ear, O יהוה, and hear. Open Your eyes, O יהוה, and see. And hear the words of Sanḥĕriḇ, which he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.

17“Truly, יהוה, the sovereigns of Ashshur have laid waste the nations and their lands,

18and have put their mighty ones into the fire, for they were not mighty ones, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, and destroyed them.

19“And now, O יהוה our Elohim, I pray, save us from his hand, so that all the reigns of the earth know that You are יהוה Elohim, You alone.”

20Then Yeshayahu son of Amots sent to Ḥizqiyahu, saying, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I have heard that which you have prayed to Me against Sanḥĕriḇ sovereign of Ashshur.’

21“This is the word which יהוה has spoken concerning him, ‘The maiden, the daughter of Tsiyon, has despised you, mocked you; the daughter of Yerushalayim has shaken her head behind you!

22‘Whom have you reproached and reviled? Against whom have you raised a voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl!

23‘By the hand of your messengers you have reproached יהוה, and said, “With my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Leḇanon. And I cut down its tall cedars, its choice cypress trees. And I enter its remotest parts, its thickest forest.

24‘I have dug and drunk strange water, and with the soles of my feet I dry up all the streams of defence.”

25‘Have you not heard long ago, I made it; from days of old I formed it? Now I have brought it to be, that you should make walled cities ruinous heaps.

26‘And their inhabitants were powerless, they were overthrown and put to shame, they were as the grass of the field and the green plants, as the grass on the house-tops and withered before it came up.

27‘But I know your sitting down, and your going out and your coming in, and your rage against Me.

28‘Because your rage against Me and your pride have come up to My ears, I shall put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I shall turn you back by the way which you came.

29‘And this is the sign for you: This year you eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that, and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30‘And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Yehuḏah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31‘For out of Yerushalayim comes forth a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Tsiyon – the ardour of יהוה does this.’

32“Therefore thus said יהוה concerning the sovereign of Ashshur, ‘He does not come into this city, nor does he shoot an arrow there, nor does he come before it with shield, nor does he build a siege mound against it.

33‘By the way that he came, by the same he turns back. And he does not come into this city,’ declares יהוה.

34‘And I shall defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for the sake of Dawiḏ My servant.’ ”

35And it came to be in that night that the messenger of יהוה went out, and smote in the camp of Ashshur one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they rose up early in the morning and saw all of them dead bodies.

36And Sanḥĕriḇ sovereign of Ashshur broke camp and went away, and turned back, and remained in Ninewĕh.

37And it came to be, as he was bowing himself in the house of Nisroḵ his mighty one, that his sons Aḏrammeleḵ and Shar’etser smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Ěsarḥaddon reigned in his place.