1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it , that he rent his clothes , and covered himself with sackcloth , and went into the house of the LORD . 2And he sent Eliakim , which 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 . 3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah , This day is a day of trouble , and of rebuke , and blasphemy : for the children are come to the birth , and there is not strength to bring forth . 4It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh , whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God ; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard : wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left .
God's Response through Isaiah
5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah . 6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master , Thus saith the LORD , Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard , with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour , and shall return to his own land ; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land .
Sennacherib's Continued Threats
8So Rab-shakeh returned , and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah : for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish . 9And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia , Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah , saying , 10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah , saying , Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying , Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria . 11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands , by destroying them utterly : and shalt thou be delivered ? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed ; as Gozan , and Haran , and Rezeph , and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar ? 13Where is the king of Hamath , and the king of Arpad , and the king of the city of Sepharvaim , of Hena , and Ivah ?
God's Deliverance
14And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers , and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD , and spread it before the LORD . 15And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD , and said , O LORD God of Israel , which dwellest between the cherubims , thou art the God , even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth . 16LORD , bow down thine ear , and hear : open , LORD , thine eyes , and see : and hear the words of Sennacherib , which hath sent him to reproach the living God . 17Of a truth , LORD , the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands , 18And 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. 19Now therefore, O LORD our God , I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand , that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God , even thou only. 20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah , saying , Thus saith the LORD God of Israel , That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard . 21This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn ; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee . 22Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed ? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice , and lifted up thine eyes on high ? even against the Holy One of Israel . 23By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord , and hast said , With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains , to the sides of Lebanon , and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders , and into the forest of his Carmel . 24I have digged and drunk strange waters , and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places . 25Hast thou 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 thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps . 26Therefore their inhabitants were of small 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 corn blasted before it be grown up . 27But I know thy abode , and thy going out , and thy coming in , and thy rage against me. 28Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears , therefore I will put my hook in thy nose , and my bridle in thy lips , and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest . 29And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap , and plant vineyards , and eat the fruits thereof. 30And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward , and bear fruit upward . 31For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant , and they that escape out of mount Zion : the zeal of the LORD of hosts do this. 32Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria , He shall not come into this city , nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield , nor cast a bank against it. 33By the way that he came , by the same shall he return , and shall not come into this city , saith the LORD . 34For I will defend this city , to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. 35And it came to pass that night , that the angel of the LORD went out , and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning , behold, they were all dead corpses . 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed , and went and returned , and dwelt at Nineveh . 37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god , that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword : and they escaped into the land of Armenia . And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.