When king Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, Shebna and a priest to Isaiah, all covered with sackcloth, and they said to Isaiah, “Today is a day of trouble, of punishment and disgrace, as when children come to birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. May the Lord your God punish the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” And Isaiah said, “ ‘Fear not, thus says the Lord about the words of the servants of Assyria, ‘I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor, and will return to his own land and fall by the sword there.’ ” When Rabshakeh returned, he found the king fighting with Libnah. For the king had heard that Tirhakah king of Cush had come out to fight him. He also sent messengers to Hezekiah with the same words as before. When Hezekiah had read the letter, he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord and prayed. He said, “Lord God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim. You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Lord, incline your ears, open your eyes and see and hear Sennacherib’s defiant words. The kings of Assyria have killed the people with the sword and ravaged their lands and have cast their gods into the fire. Now, Lord our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms may recognize your dominion.” Then Isaiah sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Because you have prayed against Sennacherib, I have heard you. This is what the Lord has spoken against him, ‘The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers, you have defied the Lord and have cut down cedars and cypresses and entered into his farthest lodging place in dense the forest. You have dug and drunk strange waters and dried up all the rivers of Egypt with your feet. Haven’t you heard how I have planned it long ago, that you would turn fortified cities into heaps of stones. Their inhabitants were afraid and alarmed like the grass. Because your arrogance has come up into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. I will lead you back the way you came. It will be a sign to you, Hezekiah. In the first year, eat what grows of its own accord. In the second year eat what springs from that. In the third year sow and harvest and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the remnant of the house of Judah which has been saved will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and those who shall escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. The Lord says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it and he will turn back. For I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
And that night, the angel of the Lord went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When they arose early in the morning, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him and escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.