Sennacherib Invades Judah
1 After Hezekiah’s faithful deeds, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah. He encamped against the fortified cities, intending to win them for himself. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he was planning to fight against Jerusalem, 3 he took counsel with his officials and his warriors to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city, and they helped him.
4 So, many people gathered together, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the middle of the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find an abundance of water?”
5 Hezekiah strengthened himself by rebuilding all of the wall that was broken down and raising it up to the towers with the other wall outside. He strengthened Millo in the city of David and made an abundance of weapons and shields.
6 He set military commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the wide open space at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or because of all the multitudes who are with him, for there is a greater one with us than with him. 8 With him, is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” The people rested on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Sennacherib Boasts against the Lord
9 After this, while Sennacherib king of Assyria was laying siege to Lachish with all his military forces, he sent messengers to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying: 10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: In whom are you trusting, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? 11 Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you and giving you over to die by famine and by thirst when he tells you, ‘The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?’ 12 Hasn’t the same Hezekiah taken down the high places and altars of the Lord and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before one altar, and you shall burn incense on it?’
13 Don’t you know what my fathers and I have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any way able to deliver their land from my hand? 14 Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?
15 Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand and from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand?”
16 His servants spoke yet more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17 He also wrote letters insulting the Lord, the God of Israel and speaking against him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people from my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people from my hand.”
18 The Assyrians called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them, that they might take the city. 19 They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.
Jerusalem Delivered from Sennacherib
20 Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven.
21 The Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. When he returned in disgrace to his own land and came into the house of his god, his own sons killed him there with the sword. 22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. 23 Many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from then on.
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
24 In those days Hezekiah was terminally ill, and he prayed to the Lord, and he spoke to him and gave him a miraculous sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not respond appropriately for the benefit done for him, because his heart was proud. Therefore there was wrath on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the anger of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 Hezekiah had exceedingly great wealth and honor. He provided himself with treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of valuable vessels. 28 He made storehouses for the increase of grain, new wine, and oil, and stalls for all kinds of animals and flocks in folds. 29 Moreover he provided for himself cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him abundant possessions. 30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.
31 However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, the Lord left him, to try him, that he might know everything that was in his heart.
Hezekiah’s Death
32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 33 Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his place.