7. I’m about to put a spirit in him, so when he hears a rumor, he’ll go back to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.’"
8. The field commander heard that the Assyrian king had left Lachish. So he went back to the king and found him attacking Libnah.
9. Then the Assyrian king learned that Cush’s King Tirhakah was on his way to fight against him. So he sent messengers to Hezekiah again, saying,
10. "Say this to Judah’s King Hezekiah: Don’t let the God you trust in persuade you by saying, ‘Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the Assyrian king.’
11. You yourself have heard what Assyrian kings do to other countries, wiping them out. Is it likely that you will be saved?
12. Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the people of Eden in Telassar—save them?
13. Where now is Hamath’s king, Arpad’s king, or the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?"
14. Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers and read them. Then he went to the temple and spread them out before the Lord.
15. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, "Lord God of Israel, you sit enthroned on the winged creatures. You alone are God over all the earth’s kingdoms. You made both heaven and earth.
16. Lord, turn your ear this way and hear! Lord, open your eyes and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words. He sent them to insult the living God!
17. It’s true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed many nations and their lands.
18. The Assyrians burned the gods of those nations with fire because they aren’t real gods. They are only man-made creations of wood and stone. That’s how the Assyrians could destroy them.
19. So now, Lord our God, please save us from Sennacherib’s power! Then all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you, Lord, are the only true God."
20. Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son, sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: I have heard your prayer about Assyria’s King Sennacherib.
21. This is the message that the Lord has spoken against him:The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and mocks you;Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
22. Whom did you insult and ridicule?Against whom did you raise your voiceand pridefully lift your eyes?It was against the holy one of Israel!
23. You’ve insulted the Lord with your messengers;you said, ‘I, with my many chariots,have gone up to the highest mountains,to the farthest reaches of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedars,the best of its pine trees.I have reached its most remote lodging place,its best forest.
24. I have dug wells,have drunk waters in foreign lands.With my own feet, I dried upall of Egypt’s streams.’
25. Haven’t you heard?I set this up long ago;I planned it in the distant past!Now I have made it happen,making fortified citiescollapse into piles of rubble.
26. Their citizens have lost their power.They are frightened and ashamed.They’ve become like plants in a field,tender green shoots,the grass on rooftops,burned up before it matures.