Jerusalem's Deliverance Promised

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3And they said unto him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD your God has heard: therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.

5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say unto your master, Thus says the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

Sennacherib's Threat

8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come forth to make war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shall you be delivered?

12Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah

Hezekiah's Prayer

14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

15And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

16O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth.

17Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

18Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries.

19And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

20Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only.

The Fall of Sennacherib

21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Since you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:

22This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

23Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

24By your servants have you reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees: and I will enter into its farthest height, and the forest of its Carmel.

25I have dug, and drunk water; and with the soles of my feet have I dried up all the streams of Egypt.

26Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and from ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

27Therefore their inhabitants were of little power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blighted before it is grown.

28But I know your abode, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.

29Because your rage against me, and your tumult, has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

30And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year that which springs of the same: and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

31And the remnant that have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

33Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast up a siege mound against it.

34By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, says the LORD.

35For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

36Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead corpses.

37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

38And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.