And he sentEliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priestscoveredwithsackcloth, untoIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
And theysaidunto him, ThussaithHezekiah, 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 bringforth.
It may be the LORD thy God willhear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his masterhathsent to reproach the living God, and willreprove the wordswhich the LORD thy God hathheard: whereforelift up thy prayer for the remnantthat is left.
And Isaiahsaiduntothem, Thusshall ye say untoyourmaster, Thussaith the LORD, Be not afraid of the wordsthatthouhastheard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyriahaveblasphemed me.
And he heard say concerningTirhakahking of Ethiopia, He is comeforth to make war withthee. And when he heard it, he sentmessengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Thusshall ye speak to Hezekiahking of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whomthoutrustest, deceivethee, saying, Jerusalemshall not be giveninto the hand of the king of Assyria.
Have the gods of the nationsdeliveredthemwhich my fathershavedestroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Edenwhichwere in Telassar?
And Hezekiahreceived the letterfrom the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiahwent up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, thatdwellestbetween the cherubims, thou art the God, eventhoualone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thouhastmadeheaven and earth.
This is the wordwhich the LORDhathspokenconcerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hathdespisedthee, and laughedthee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalemhathshaken her head at thee.
By thy servantshastthoureproached the Lord, and hastsaid, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tallcedarsthereof, and the choice fir treesthereof: and I willenterinto the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
Hastthou not heardlong ago, how I havedone it; and of ancienttimes, that I haveformed it? now have I brought it to pass, thatthoushouldest be to lay wastedefencedcitiesintoruinousheaps.
Thereforetheirinhabitantswere of smallpower, theyweredismayed and confounded: theywere as the grass of the field, and as the greenherb, as the grass on the housetops, and as cornblastedbefore it be grown up.
Because thy rageagainst me, and thy tumult, is come up intomineears, thereforewill I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I willturntheeback by the way by whichthoucamest.
And thisshall be a signuntothee, Ye shall eat thisyearsuch as groweth of itself; and the secondyearthatwhichspringeth of the same: and in the thirdyear sow ye, and reap, and plantvineyards, and eat the fruitthereof.
Thereforethussaith the LORDconcerning the king of Assyria, He shall not comeintothiscity, nor shoot an arrowthere, nor comebefore it withshields, nor cast a bankagainst it.
Then the angel of the LORDwentforth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and fivethousand: and whentheyaroseearly in the morning, behold, theywere all deadcorpses.
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, thatAdrammelech and Sharezer his sonssmote him with the sword; and theyescapedinto the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.