Dual Panel1It was after these events and this example of loyal conduct that King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified towns, believing that he could gain entry and secure them for himself.
2When Hezekiah saw that he had come determined to attack Jerusalem,
3he consulted his civil and military officers about blocking up the springs outside the city; and they supported him.
4They brought together a large number of people to block up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the land. “Why should Assyrian kings come here and find plenty of water?” they said.
5Acting with resolution the king made good every breach in the city wall, erecting towers on it and building another wall outside it. He strengthened the Millo of the city of David, and got together a large quantity of weapons and shields.
6He appointed military commanders over the people and, assembling them in the public square by the city gate, he spoke these words of encouragement:
7“Be strong; be brave. Do not let the king of Assyria or the rabble he has brought with him strike terror or panic into your hearts, for we have more on our side than he has.
8He has human strength; but we have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were buoyed up by the speech of King Hezekiah.
9After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria and his high command were at Lachish, he sent envoys to Jerusalem to deliver this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the Judaeans in Jerusalem:
10“King Sennacherib of Assyria says, ‘What gives you the confidence to stay in Jerusalem under siege?
11Hezekiah is deluding you into risking death by famine or thirst where you are, when he tells you that the LORD your God will save you from the clutches of the Assyrian king.
12Was it not Hezekiah himself who suppressed the LORD's shrines and altars and told the people of Judah and Jerusalem that they must worship at one altar only and burn sacrifices there?
13“‘You know very well what I and my forefathers have done to all the peoples of other lands. Were the gods of these nations able to save their lands from me?
14Not one of the gods of these nations, which my predecessors exterminated, was able to save his people from me. Much less will your God save you!
15Now, can you let Hezekiah deceive and delude you like this? Can you put any trust in him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from me or my forefathers? Much less will your gods save you!’”
16Sennacherib's envoys spoke still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
17The king also wrote a letter insulting the LORD the God of Israel in these terms: “Just as the gods of other nations could not save their people from me, so Hezekiah's God cannot save his people from me.”
18Then they shouted in Hebrew at the tops of their voices at the people of Jerusalem on the wall, to strike them with fear and terror, hoping thus to capture the city.
19They described the God of Jerusalem as being like the gods of the other peoples of the earth -- things made by the hands of men.
20In this plight King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried to heaven in prayer.
21So the LORD sent an angel who cut down every fighting man, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria, so that he withdrew disgraced to his own land. When he entered the temple of his god, certain of his own sons put him to the sword.
22Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all their enemies; he gave them respite on every side.
23Many people brought to Jerusalem offerings for the LORD and costly gifts for King Hezekiah of Judah. From then on he was held in high honour by all the nations.
24In those days Hezekiah fell dangerously ill and prayed to the LORD, who said, “I shall heal you,” and granted him a sign.
25But, being a proud man, he was not grateful for the good done to him, and the LORD's wrath fell on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.
26Then, proud though he was, Hezekiah submitted, and the people of Jerusalem with him, and the LORD's anger did not fall on them again in Hezekiah's time.
27Hezekiah enjoyed great wealth and fame. He built treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and other costly things;
28and barns for the harvests of grain, new wine, and oil; and stalls for various kinds of cattle, as well as sheepfolds.
29He amassed a great many flocks and herds; God had indeed given him vast riches.
30It was this same Hezekiah who blocked the upper outflow of the waters of Gihon and directed them downwards and westwards to the city of David. In fact, Hezekiah was successful in everything he attempted,
31even in the affair of the envoys sent by the king of Babylon, the envoys who came to enquire about the portent which had been seen in the land at the time when God left him to himself, in order to test him and to discover all that was in his mind.
32The other events of Hezekiah's reign, and his works of piety, are recorded in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz and in the annals of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33Hezekiah rested with his forefathers and was buried in the upper part of the graves of David's sons; all Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honour when he died. His son Manasseh succeeded him.