2 Kings 19:5-20, 32-37

So King Hezekiah’s men went to Isaiah. Isaiah answered them, “Say this to your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Don’t be afraid of the message that you heard when the Assyrian king’s assistants slandered me. I’m going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own country. I’ll have him assassinated in his own country.’ ” The field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. He had heard that the king left Lachish. Now, Sennacherib heard that King Tirhakah of Sudan was coming to fight him. Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah, ‘Don’t let the god whom you trust deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria. You heard what the kings of Assyria did to all countries, how they totally destroyed them. Will you be rescued? Did the gods of the nations which my ancestors destroyed rescue Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ” Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers, read them, and went to the LORD’s temple. He spread them out in front of the LORD and prayed to the LORD, “LORD of Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned over the angels. You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the world. You made heaven and earth. Turn your ear toward me, LORD, and listen. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib sent to defy the living God. It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have leveled nations. They have thrown the gods from these countries into fires because these gods aren’t real gods. They’re only wooden and stone statues made by human hands. So the Assyrians have destroyed them. Now, LORD our God, rescue us from Assyria’s control so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you alone are the LORD God.” Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: You prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. I have heard you.

“This is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: He will never come into this city, shoot an arrow here, hold a shield in front of it, or put up dirt ramps to attack it. He will go back the way he came, and he won’t come into this city,” declares the LORD of Armies. “I will shield this city to rescue it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.” It happened that night. The LORD’s angel went out and killed 185,000 ⌞soldiers⌟ in the Assyrian camp. When the Judeans got up early in the morning, they saw all the corpses. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left. He went home to Nineveh and stayed there. While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him and escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.