Now when Hezekiah had been king for 14 years, the king of Assyria came to fight against the
cities in Judah with a great big army.
This king sent one of his men to tell the people at Jerusalem that they couldn’t win the
battle.
He said, We have conquered everyone, no one can beat us. Egypt can’t help you. The Lord your God can’t help you. The Lord sent
me here to destroy you, he said. But it was a lie.
Do not listen to your king, Hezekiah, Come now and make a deal with me. Give me a big gift of
gold
and I will let you stay at your own houses under your own vines and fig trees until I come get
you to take you to a land like your own land,
full of corn and wine and bread and vineyards.
None of the gods of the other nations have been able to save the people who trusted them. Your
God won’t be able so help you either. The man lied to get them to give up without even fighting.
But the people didn’t say anything back to the bad king’s man because king Hezekiah told them not
to talk to him at all.
Then the leaders of Jerusalem went and told king Hezekiah all the words of the message from the bad king.
And when the king heard it he torn his clothes and went to the Lord’s house and said, Let the
Lord God hear these words from this bad king that say bad things about the living God.
Then Isaiah told the king, The Lord says, Don’t be afraid of these words that this king said
about Me. I will send a blast on him and he will hear a rumor and turn around and go back to his own land.
The bad king sent men with a letter to Hezekiah again that said the same thing so Hezekiah took
the letter to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord to show Him.
And Hezekiah prayed and said, O Lord of all the armies of the angels of heaven, who lives here
between the cherubim, You are God, only You, of all the kingdoms on the earth. You made heaven and earth.
Lean down your ear and listen. Open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of this king who
talks bad against You, the Living God.
These bad ones have run over all these other countries and cities and taken all their stuff. They
threw their gods into the fire because they weren’t gods at all, but just something men’s hands made.
Now, O Lord our God, save us from this man that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You
are the Lord, only You.
Then Isaiah brought back words from the Lord saying to the bad king, the daughters of Zion laugh
and make fun of you. Who have you talked bad about? The Holy Special One of Israel.
You said that You did all this, but I planned it for you to do, and then I made it
happen.
I know where you live and how much you hate Me.
So I will put a hook in your nose and turn you back the way you came.
The sign for Hezekiah that this will happen is that this year you will eat the things that grow
by itself and the next year you will eat what springs up out from that and then the third year from now you will plant fields and vineyards and eat their fruit.
The rest of the people who escape will grow roots deep down into My love
and have much fruit to Me and to eat.
Out of Jerusalem will go a few people that escape.
I am stirred up very strong to do this.
That bad king won’t come to inside my city or even shoot an arrow here
because I will protect this city
because of Me and My servant David.
Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down the army that camped around Jerusalem,
185,000 strong soldiers in one night.
And when the people of the city got up the next day that is what they found, just all the
soldiers around the city were dead.
And the king went back to his own city and when he went into the temple to worship a bad one, two
of his sons took a sword and killed him