19:5 When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, 19:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard—these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me.¹⁰ 19:7 Look, I will take control of his mind;¹¹ he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down¹² with a sword in his own land.”’“

19:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.¹³ 19:9 The king heard that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him.¹⁴ He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 19:10 “Tell Hezekiah king 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.” 19:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.¹⁵ Do you really think you will be rescued?¹⁶ 19:12 Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar—rescued by their gods?¹⁷ 19:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of Lair,¹⁸ Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’“

19:14 Hezekiah took the letter¹⁹ from the messengers and read it.²⁰ Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD. 19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: “LORD God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs!²¹ You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky²² and the earth. 19:16 Pay attention, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and observe. Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God.²³ 19:17 It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. 19:18 They have burned the gods of the nations²⁴ 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.²⁵ 19:19 Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth might know that you, LORD, are the only God.”

19:20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.²⁶ 19:21 This is what the LORD says about him:²⁷

“The virgin daughter Zion²⁸
despises you, she makes fun of you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you.²⁹
19:22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted,
and looked so arrogantly?³⁰
At the sovereign king of Israel!³¹
19:23 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,³²
‘With my many chariots³³ 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,³⁴
its thickest woods.
19:24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands.³⁵
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
19:25³⁶Certainly you must have heard!³⁷
Long ago I worked it out,
In ancient times I planned³⁸ it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins.³⁹
19:26 Their residents are powerless,⁴⁰
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field,
or green vegetation.⁴¹
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops⁴²
when it is scorched by the east wind.⁴³
19:27 I know where you live,
and everything you do.⁴⁴
19:28 Because you rage against me,
and the uproar you create has reached my ears;⁴⁵
I will put my hook in your nose,⁴⁶
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back the way
you came.”

19:29⁴⁷This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth:⁴⁸ This year you will eat what grows wild,⁴⁹ and next year⁵⁰ what grows on its own. But the year after that⁵¹ you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.⁵² 19:30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.⁵³

19:31 For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;
survivors will come out of Mount Zion.
The LORD’s intense devotion to his people⁵⁴ will accomplish this.
19:32 So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.⁵⁵
He will not attack it with his shielded warriors,⁵⁶
nor will he build siege works against it.
19:33 He will go back the way he came,
he will not enter this city,” says the LORD

19:34 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’“⁵⁷

19:35 That very night the LORD’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they⁵⁸ got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.⁵⁹ 19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.⁶⁰ 19:37 One day,⁶¹ as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,⁶² his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.⁶³ They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.