2 Chronicles 32

¹After these things and these acts of faithfulness Sennachʹerib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. ²And when Hezekiʹah saw that Sennachʹerib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, ³he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall; and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶And he set combat commanders over the people, and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ⁷“Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than with him. ⁸With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiʹah king of Judah.

⁹After this Sennachʹerib king of Assyria, who was besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiʹah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰“Thus says Sennachʹerib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you relying, that you stand siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Is not Hezekiʹah misleading you, that he may give you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ¹²Has not this same Hezekiʹah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, “Before one altar you shall worship, and upon it you shall burn your sacrifices”? ¹³Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴Who among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵Now therefore do not let Hezekiʹah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!’ ”

¹⁶And his servants said still more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiʹah. ¹⁷And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord the God of Israel and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiʹah will not deliver his people from my hand.” ¹⁸And they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were upon the wall, to frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.

²⁰Then Hezekiʹah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. ²²So the Lord saved Hezekiʹah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennachʹerib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies; and he gave them rest on every side. ²³And many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiʹah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward.

²⁴In those days Hezekiʹah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to the Lord; and he answered him and gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiʹah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶But Hezekiʹah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiʹah.

²⁷And Hezekiʹah had very great riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of costly vessels; ²⁸storehouses also for the yield of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds. ²⁹He likewise provided cities for himself, and flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very great possessions. ³⁰This same Hezekiʹah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiʹah prospered in all his works. ³¹And so in the matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had been done in the land, God left him to himself, in order to try him and to know all that was in his heart.

³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiʹah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiʹah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasʹseh his son reigned in his stead.