2 Chronicles 32

¹ After these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to break them open and take them for himself.

² When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, intent on war against Jerusalem,

³ he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the water of the springs outside the city, and they helped him.

⁴ So a large force of people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. 'Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?' they said.

⁵ Then he set to work with determination: he rebuilt the entire broken wall and raised towers on it, built another wall outside it and strengthened the Millo in the City of David. He also made weapons and shields in large numbers.

⁶ He appointed military commanders over the people, gathered them to him in the square at the city gate and spoke encouragingly to them:

⁷ 'Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the whole horde with him, for there is more with us than with him.'

⁸ 'With him is only 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 Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹ Later, while Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces were besieging Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem:

¹⁰ 'This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in, that you stay in Jerusalem under siege?'

¹¹ 'Is not Hezekiah misleading you, to hand you over to die by famine and thirst, when he says, "The LORD our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria"?'

¹² 'Did not this same Hezekiah remove this god's high places and altars, telling Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before one altar and burn your offerings on it"?'

¹³ 'Do you not know what I and my predecessors have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands able to rescue their land from my hand?'

¹⁴ 'Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to rescue his people from my hand? How then will your god be able to rescue you from my hand?'

¹⁵ 'Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my hand or from the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god rescue you from my hand!'

¹⁶ And his servants said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷ Sennacherib also wrote letters insulting the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against him: 'Just as the gods of the nations of the other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.'

¹⁸ They shouted loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them so that they could capture the city.

¹⁹ They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they spoke about the gods of the other peoples of the earth — the work of human hands.

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven.

²¹ And the LORD sent an angel, who wiped out all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace, and when he went into the temple of his god, some of his own sons cut him down there with the sword.

²² So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and he cared for them on every side.

²³ Many people brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was honored in the eyes of all the nations.

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.

²⁵ But Hezekiah did not respond to the kindness shown him, for his heart grew proud, so wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the people of Jerusalem, and the LORD's wrath did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷ Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold, his precious stones and spices, his shields and every kind of desirable object.

²⁸ He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil, stalls for all kinds of cattle and pens for the flocks.

²⁹ He built towns for himself, and he acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great riches.

³⁰ It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the water of Gihon and channeled it straight down to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.

³¹ But when the rulers of Babylon sent envoys to him to ask about the miraculous sign that had happened in the land, God left him to himself, to test him and to know all that was in his heart.

³² The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

³³ Then Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the upper section of the tombs of David's descendants, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.