⁹ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. ¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹ And the king of Assyria carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

¹³ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did ^[a]Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. ¹⁴ And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and from the ^[b]pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent ^[c]Tartan and ^[d]Rab-saris and ^[e]Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army unto Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. ¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the ^[f]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the ^[g]recorder.

¹⁹ And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ²⁰ Thou sayest (but they are but ^[h]vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? ²¹ Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. ²² But if ye say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? ²³ Now therefore, I pray thee, ^[i]give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. ²⁴ How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

²⁶ Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the ^[j]Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not with us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. ²⁷ But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you? ²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear ye the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand: ³⁰ neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ³¹ Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, ^[k]Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. ³³ Hath any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

³⁶ But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. ³⁷ Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

19 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³ And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴ It may be Jehovah thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, ^[l]whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ⁵ So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. ⁸ So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ⁹ And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee, he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by ^[m]destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

¹⁴ And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, that ^[n]sittest above the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to defy the living God. ¹⁷ Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save thou us, I beseech thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou Jehovah art God alone.

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard thee. ²¹ This is the word that Jehovah hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head ^[o]at thee. ²² Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. ²³ By thy messengers thou hast defied the Lord, and hast said, With the ^[p]multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice ^[q]fir-trees thereof; and I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. ²⁴ I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of ^[r]Egypt.

²⁵ Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ²⁶ Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up. ²⁷ But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me. ²⁸ Because of thy raging against me, and because ^[s]thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

²⁹ And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. ³⁰ And ^[t]the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape: the zeal of ^[u]Jehovah shall perform this. ³² Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. ³³ By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah. ³⁴ For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

³⁵ And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. ³⁷ And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that ^[v]Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.