¹⁸ In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ⁵ He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. ⁶ He was loyal to the Lord and did not abandon him. He obeyed the commandments that the Lord had given to Moses. ⁷ The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him. ⁸ He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel, Samaria was captured. ¹¹ The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God and broke his covenant with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.

¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴ King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. ¹⁶ At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts that he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ¹⁸ They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna, the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.

¹⁹ The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ²⁰ Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me? ²¹ Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. ²² Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’ ²³ Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. ²⁴ Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. ²⁵ Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

²⁶ Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”

²⁸ The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand! ³⁰ Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you to a land just like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” ³³ Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ³⁶ The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”

³⁷ Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said. ¹⁹ When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. ² He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.’”

⁵ When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard, because the Assyrian king’s officers have insulted me. ⁷ Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land.”’”

⁸ When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ⁹ The king heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: ¹⁰ “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued? ¹² Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar—rescued by their gods? ¹³ Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth. ¹⁶ Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! ¹⁷ It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

²⁰ Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. ²¹ This is what the Lord says about him:

“‘“The virgin daughter Zion

despises you, she makes fun of you;

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you.

²² Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted,

and looked so arrogantly?

At the Holy One of Israel!

²³ Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master,

‘With my many chariots

I climbed up the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions,

its thickest woods.

²⁴ I dug wells and drank

water in foreign lands.

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

²⁵ Certainly you must have heard!

Long ago I worked it out.

In ancient times I planned it;

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins.

²⁶ Their residents are powerless,

they are terrified and ashamed.

They are as short-lived as plants in the field,

or green vegetation.

They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops

when it is scorched by the east wind.

²⁷ I know where you live

and everything you do.

²⁸ Because you rage against me,

and the uproar you create has reached my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose,

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back the way

you came.”

²⁹ “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ³⁰ Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

³¹ “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will accomplish this.

³² So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here.

He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,

nor will he build siege works against it.

³³ He will go back the way he came.

He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.

³⁴ “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”

³⁵ That very night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. ³⁶ So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. ³⁷ One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

¹⁰⁶ Praise the Lord.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures.

² Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts

or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?

³ How blessed are those who promote justice

and do what is right all the time.

⁴ Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people.

Pay attention to me, when you deliver,

⁵ so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,

rejoice along with your nation,

and boast along with the people who belong to you.

⁶ We have sinned like our ancestors;

we have done wrong, we have done evil.

⁷ Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds.

They failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,

and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.

⁸ Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation

that he might reveal his power.

⁹ He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up;

he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.

¹⁰ He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them

and rescued them from the power of the enemy.

¹¹ The water covered their enemies;

not even one of them survived.

¹² They believed his promises;

they sang praises to him.

¹³ They quickly forgot what he had done;

they did not wait for his instructions.

¹⁴ In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat;

they challenged God in the wastelands.

¹⁵ He granted their request,

then struck them with a disease.

¹⁶ In the camp they resented Moses

and Aaron the Lord’s holy priest.

¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;

it engulfed the group led by Abiram.

¹⁸ Fire burned their group;

the flames scorched the wicked.

¹⁹ They made an image of a calf at Horeb

and worshiped a metal idol.

²⁰ They traded their majestic God

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

²¹ They rejected the God who delivered them,

the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

²² amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty acts by the Red Sea.

²³ He threatened to destroy them,

but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him

and turned back his destructive anger.

²⁴ They rejected the fruitful land;

they did not believe his promise.

²⁵ They grumbled in their tents;

they did not obey the Lord.

²⁶ So he made a solemn vow

that he would make them die in the wilderness,

²⁷ make their descendants die among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands.

²⁸ They worshiped Baal of Peor

and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

²⁹ They made the Lord angry by their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰ Phinehas took a stand and intervened,

and the plague subsided.

³¹ This was credited to Phinehas as a righteous act

for all generations to come.

³² They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered because of them,

³³ for they aroused his temper,

and he spoke rashly.

³⁴ They did not destroy the nations,

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

³⁵ They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways.

³⁶ They worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

³⁸ They shed innocent blood—

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed.

³⁹ They were defiled by their deeds

and unfaithful in their actions.

⁴⁰ So the Lord was angry with his people

and despised the people who belonged to him.

⁴¹ He handed them over to the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴² Their enemies oppressed them;

they were subject to their authority.

⁴³ Many times he delivered them,

but they had a rebellious attitude

and degraded themselves by their sin.

⁴⁴ Yet he took notice of their distress,

when he heard their cry for help.

⁴⁵ He remembered his covenant with them

and relented because of his great loyal love.

⁴⁶ He caused all their conquerors

to have pity on them.

⁴⁷ Deliver us, O Lord, our God.

Gather us from among the nations.

Then we will give thanks to your holy name,

and boast about your praiseworthy deeds.

⁴⁸ The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,

in the future and forevermore.

Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”