9. The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10. “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.
11. Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
12. Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?
13. Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’ ”
14. Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.
15. Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16. Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God — You alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17. Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.
18. Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.
19. They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands — wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
20. Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord — You alone.
21. Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22. this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you:Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
23. Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed?Who have you raised your voice againstand lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24. You have mocked the Lord through your servants.You have said, “With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,to the far recesses of Lebanon.I cut down its tallest cedars,its choice cypress trees.I came to its distant heights,its densest forest.
25. I dug wells and drank water.I dried up all the streams of Egyptwith the soles of my feet.”
26. Have you not heard? I designed it long ago;I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass,and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.
27. Their inhabitants have become powerless,dismayed, and ashamed.They are plants of the field,tender grass,grass on the rooftops,blasted by the east wind.
28. But I know your sitting down,your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.