1 A nd it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard, that he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.

2 A nd he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.

3 A nd they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4 I t may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.

5 A nd the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 A nd Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7 B ehold, I will put a spirit into him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 A nd Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

9 A nd he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10 T hus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not thy God, upon whom thou reliest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 B ehold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?

12 H ave the gods of the nations which my fathers have destroyed delivered them, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar?

13 W here is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

14 A nd Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah.

15 A nd Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah, saying,

16 J ehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, who sittest the cherubim, thou, the Same, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made the heavens and the earth.

17 I ncline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open, Jehovah, thine eyes, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.

18 O f a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands, and their countries,

19 a nd have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.

20 A nd now, Jehovah our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, thou only.

21 A nd Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 t his is the word which Jehovah hath spoken against him: The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem shaketh her head at thee.

23 W hom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted the voice? Against the Holy One of Israel hast thou lifted up thine eyes on high.

24 B y thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the recesses of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypresses; and I will enter into its furthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.

25 I have digged and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the streams of Matsor.

26 H ast thou not heard that long ago I did it, and that from ancient days I formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste fortified cities ruinous heaps.

27 A nd their inhabitants were powerless, they were dismayed and put to shame; they were the grass of the field and the green herb, the grass on the housetops, and grain blighted before it be grown up.

28 B ut I know thine abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.

29 B ecause thy raging against me and thine arrogance is come up into mine ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will make thee go back by the way by which thou camest.

30 A nd this the sign unto thee: there shall be eaten this year such as groweth of itself; and in the second year that which springeth of the same; but in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.

31 A nd the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;

32 f or out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that escape: the zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.

33 T herefore thus saith Jehovah 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.

34 B y the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah.

35 A nd I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

36 A nd an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote 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 bodies.

37 A nd Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and abode at Nineveh.

38 A nd 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 Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.