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:
16. "Lord of heavenly forces, 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.
17. 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!
18. It’s true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed all the nations and their lands.
19. 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.
20. So now, Lord our God, please save us from Sennacherib’s power! Then all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you alone are Lord."
21. Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son, sent a message to Hezekiah: The Lord God of Israel says this: Since you prayed to me about Assyria’s King Sennacherib,
22. 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.
23. Whom did you insult and ridicule?Against whom did you raise your voiceand look on with disdain?It was against the holy one of Israel!
24. With your servants, you’ve insulted the Lord;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.
25. I have dug wells,have drunk water in foreign lands.With my own feet, I dried up all of Egypt’s streams."
26. 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 cities collapse into piles of rubble.
27. Their citizens have lost their power;they are frightened and dismayed.They’ve become like plants in a field,tender green shoots,the grass on rooftops,blasted by the east wind.
28. I know where you are,how you go out and come in,and how you rage against me.