Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah
1 1As soon as King Hezekiah heard it,
2he tore his clothes and
3covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD.
2
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests,
4covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
3
They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.
4
5It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent
6to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for
7the remnant that is left."
5
When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6
Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which
8the servants of the king of Assyria have
9reviled me.
7
Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that
10he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him
11fall by the sword in his own land.'"
Sennacherib Defies the Lord
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against
12Libnah, for he heard that the king had left
13Lachish.
9
14Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
10
"Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God
15in whom you trust deceive you by promising that
16Jerusalem will 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, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
12
17Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed,
18Gozan,
19Haran, Rezeph, and the people of
20Eden who were in Telassar?
13
21Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"
Hezekiah's Prayer
14 Hezekiah received
22the 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 before the LORD and said: "O LORD, the God of Israel,
23enthroned above the cherubim,
24you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16
25Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear;
26open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent
27to mock the living God.
17
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands
18
and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods,
28but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
19
So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand,
29that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that
30you, O LORD, are God alone."