Isaiah 37:1–38

¹ On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. ² And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz ³ to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶ who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’” ⁸ When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. ⁹ Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? ¹² Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? ¹³ Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’” ¹⁴ So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶ “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷ Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹ They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. ²⁰ And now, O LORD our God, sav…