He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them also dressed in penitential burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
Do you think your GOD heard what the Rabshekah said, sent by his master the king of Assyria to mock the living God? And do you think your GOD will do anything about it? Pray for us, Isaiah. Pray for those of us left here holding the fort!'"
Isaiah said, "Tell your master this: 'GOD's Message: Don't be upset by what you've heard, all those words the servants of the Assyrian king have used to mock me.
I personally will take care of him. I'll arrange it so that he'll get a rumor of bad news back home and rush home to take care of it. And he'll die there. Killed--a violent death.'"
Just then the Assyrian king received an intelligence report on King Tirhakah of Ethiopia: "He is on his way to make war on you." On hearing that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with instructions to deliver this message:
Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world--one country after another devastated! And do you think you're going to get off?
Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed--Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?
Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?"
"GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth.
They've thrown their gods into the trash and burned them--no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods!
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this word to Hezekiah: "GOD's Message, the God of Israel: Because you brought King Sennacherib of Assyria to me in prayer,
here is my answer, GOD's answer: "'She has no use for you, Sennacherib, nothing but contempt, this virgin daughter Zion. She spits at you and turns on her heel, this daughter Jerusalem.
"'Who do you think you've been mocking and reviling all these years? Who do you think you've been jeering and treating with such utter contempt All these years? The Holy of Israel!
You've used your servants to mock the Master. You've bragged, "With my fleet of chariots I've gone to the highest mountain ranges, penetrated the far reaches of Lebanon, Chopped down its giant cedars, its finest cypresses. I conquered its highest peak, explored its deepest forest.
"'Haven't you gotten the news that I've been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine and I'm just now making it happen, using you to devastate strong cities, turning them into piles of rubble
Because of all your wild raging against me, your unbridled arrogance that I keep hearing of, I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I'll show you who's boss. I'll turn you around and take you back to where you came from.
"'And this, Hezekiah, will be your confirming sign: This year's crops will be slim pickings, and next year it won't be much better. But in three years, farming will be back to normal, with regular sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting.
"Finally, this is GOD's verdict on the king of Assyria: "'Don't worry, he won't enter this city, won't let loose a single arrow, Won't brandish so much as one shield, let alone build a siege ramp against it.
Then the Angel of GOD arrived and struck the Assyrian camp--185,000 Assyrians died. By the time the sun came up, they were all dead--an army of corpses!
As he was worshiping in the sanctuary of his god Nisroch, he was murdered by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer. They escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became the next king.