2 Kings 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on rough sackcloth, and went into Yahweh's house.

He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the senior priests — all wearing sackcloth — to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

They told Isaiah, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. It's like when a baby is ready to be born but there's no strength left to deliver it."

"Maybe Yahweh your God will hear everything the Rabshakeh said — how the king of Assyria sent him to mock the living God — and will respond to the words Yahweh your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that's still here."

When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah,

Isaiah told them, "Tell your master this: 'Yahweh says: Don't be afraid of the words you heard — the way the king of Assyria's servants talked trash about me.'"

"Watch this — I'm going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain rumor, he'll head back to his own country. And I'll have him cut down by the sword in his own land."

The Rabshakeh withdrew and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had moved on from Lachish.

Then Sennacherib received a report about Tirhakah king of Cush: "He's marching out to fight you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying:

"Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: Don't let your God—the one you're relying on—fool you into thinking Jerusalem won't be handed over to the king of Assyria."

"Look, you've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to every other land — completely destroyed them. And you think you're going to be rescued?"

"Did the gods of those nations rescue them — the ones my ancestors destroyed? What about Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Tel-Assar?"

"Where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to Yahweh's house and spread it out before Yahweh.

And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh: "Yahweh, God of Israel — you who sit enthroned above the winged guardians — you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth."

"Open your ears, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Listen to the message Sennacherib sent to mock the living God."

"It's true, Yahweh — the kings of Assyria have laid waste to the nations and their lands."

"They've thrown their gods into the fire — because they weren't really gods at all, just things people made with their hands out of wood and stone. That's why they could destroy them."

"So now, Yahweh our God, rescue us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you, Yahweh, are God — you alone."

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says: I've heard your prayer about Sennacherib king of Assyria."

This is the word Yahweh has spoken against him: "She despises you. She laughs at you — the untouched daughter of Zion. She shakes her head behind your back — the daughter of Jerusalem."

"Who have you mocked and spoken trash against? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes so high? Against the One set apart over Israel!"

"Through your messengers you mocked the Lord, and you said: 'With my many chariots I have climbed the highest mountains, the farthest reaches of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, its finest cypress trees. I have reached its remotest heights, its densest forests.'"

"'I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the sole of my foot I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt.'"

"Haven't you heard? Long ago I designed this. In ancient days I shaped it. Now I have brought it to pass — that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble."

"Their inhabitants, drained of strength, were shattered and put to shame. They became like plants in a field, like tender green shoots, like grass on the rooftops — scorched before it can even grow."

"But I know where you sit, when you come and when you go, and how you rage against me."

"Because your rage against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back the way you came."

"And this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you'll eat what grows on its own. Next year, the same. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit."

"The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will once again take root downward and bear fruit upward."

"For out of Jerusalem a remnant will emerge, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The fierce devotion of Yahweh of Armies will make this happen."

"So this is what Yahweh says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city. He will not shoot a single arrow here. He will not advance against it with shields. He will not build a siege ramp against it."

"He will go back the way he came. He will not enter this city," declares Yahweh.

"I will defend this city and rescue it — for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

That very night, the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the survivors got up the next morning — there they were, all those dead bodies.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He went back to Nineveh and stayed there.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his own sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.