1. And 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.
2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3. And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4. It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of Rab-shakeh, 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.
5. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6. And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to 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.
7. Behold, I will send a blast of wind 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.
8. So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9. And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to make war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10. Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them completely; and shall you be delivered?
12. Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, such as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
14. And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15. And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
16. O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth.
17. Turn your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to reproach the living God.
18. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
19. And have thrown 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.
20. Now 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.
21. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22. This 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.
23. Whom 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.
24. By 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 the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into his farthest height, and the forest of his Carmel.
25. I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26. Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay waste fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and put to shame: 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 up.
28. But I know your dwelling, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.
29. Because 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.
30. And this shall be a sign to you, You shall eat this year that which grows of itself; and the second year that which grows from it: and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
31. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and those who escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
33. Therefore 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 build a siege mound against it.
34. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, says the LORD.
35. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36. Then the angel of the LORD went out, and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adram-melech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place.