1On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush:37:9 That is, the upper Nile region “He has set out to fight against you.”
10“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction.37:11 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. Will you then be spared?
12Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?
13Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
16“O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
18Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.
19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
20And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.37:20 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:19); MT You alone are the LORD”
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,
25I have dug wells
26Have you not heard?
27Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,
28But I know your sitting down,
29Because your rage and arrogance against Me
30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:
31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah
32For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,
33So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
34He will go back the way he came,
35‘I will defend this city
36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up 37:36 Hebrew When they got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.