2 Kings 18:28-19:4

New International Version

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(A) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(B) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(C) 32} until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(D) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³ Has the god^(E) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath^(F) and Arpad?^(G) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(H)

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim^(I) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(J) and told him what the field commander had said.

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold^(K)

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore^(L) his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ² He sent Eliakim^(M) the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,^(N) all wearing sackcloth,^(O) to the prophet Isaiah^(P) son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment^(Q) of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^(R) the living God, and that he will rebuke^(S) him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant^(T) that still survives.”