^{K1, I1}And 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 YHVH. ^{K2, I2}And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ^{K3, I3}And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ^{K4, I4}It may be YHVH thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which YHVH thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. ^{K5, I5}So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ^{K6, I6}And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith YHVH, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ^{K7, I7}Behold, 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. ^{K8, I8}So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ^{K9, I9}And when he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come forth to make war and fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, ^{K10, I10}Thus 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. ^{K11, I11}Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? ^{K12, I12}Have 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? ^{K13, I13}Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? ^{K14, I14}And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of YHVH, and spread it before YHVH.

²⁰And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.

^{K15a, I15}And Hezekiah prayed before YHVH, and said, ^{K15b, I16}O YHVH of hosts, 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. ^{K16, I17}YHVH, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, YHVH, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. ^{K17, I18}Of a truth, YHVH, the kings of Assyria have destroyed [and] laid waste all the nations and their lands, ^{K18, I19}And 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. ^{K19, I20}Now therefore, O YHVH our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art YHVH God, even thou only. ^{K20, I21}Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith YHVH God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. ^{K21, I22}This is the word that YHVH 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. ^{K22, I23}Whom 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. ^{K23, I24}By 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. ^{K24, I25}I have digged, and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. ^{K25, I26}Hast 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 defenced cities into ruinous heaps. ^{K26, I27}Therefore 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 house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. ^{K27, I28}But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. ^{K28, I29}Because 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. ^{K29, I30}And 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. ^{K30, I31}And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ^{K31, I32}For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of YHVH of hosts shall do this. ^{K32, I33}Therefore thus saith YHVH concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. ^{K33, I34}By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith YHVH. ^{K34, I35}For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

^{K35, C21a, I36}And it came to pass that night, that YHVH sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. And the angel of YHVH went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. ^{K36, C21b, I37}So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned with shame of face to his own land, and dwelt at Nineveh. ^{K37, C21c, I38}And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that they that came forth of his own bowels, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him there with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

²²Thus YHVH saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. ²³And many brought gifts unto YHVH to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.