2 Chronicles 32:8-18

8 With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

9 After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (but he [himself laid siege] against Lachish, and all his power with him,) to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah that [were] at Jerusalem, saying,

10 Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?

11 Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

12 Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?

13 Know ye not what I and my fathers have done to all the people of [other] lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of my hand?

14 Who [was there] among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

15 Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom hath been able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?

16 And his servants spoke yet [more] against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.

17 He wrote also letters to rail at the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of [other] lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.

18 Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech to the people of Jerusalem that [were] on the wall, to affright them, and to fill them with consternation; that they might take the city.

2 Chronicles 32:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 32

This chapter relates Sennacherib's invasion of the land of Judah, the preparations Hezekiah made to resist him, and the encouragement he gave his people to trust in the Lord, 2Ch 32:1-8 the messages and letters Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah and his subjects, full of arrogance and blasphemy, to solicit them to deliver up Jerusalem to him, 2Ch 32:9-19 the destruction of his army by an angel, and the deliverance of the Jews at the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah, 2Ch 32:20-23 the sin Hezekiah fell into after this, and his recovery from a fit of illness; but, upon his humiliation for it, wrath was averted, 2Ch 32:24-26 and the chapter is concluded with an account of his honours, riches, and exploits, and of his death and burial, 2Ch 32:27-33.