Isaiah 37:9-13, 15-20, 33-35

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: “Don’t let your GOD, on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won’t fall to the king of Assyria. 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?”

Then Hezekiah prayed to GOD: “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. Listen, O GOD, and hear. Look, O GOD, and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God. It’s quite true, O GOD, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. 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! But now step in, O GOD, our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are GOD.” * * *

“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. He’ll go back the same way he came. He won’t set a foot in this city. GOD’s Decree. I’ve got my hand on this city to save it, Save it for my very own sake, but also for the sake of my David dynasty.’”