¹After these things and this fidelity shown, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah, and he encamped against the fortified cities, intending to split them open and take them for himself. ²And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he was intent on war against Jerusalem, ³he consulted with his officials and his warriors about blocking the water of the sources which were outside the city, and they helped him. ⁴And a large number of people gathered together and blocked all the water-sources, and the brook which flowed through the middle of the land, and they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?” ⁵And he showed himself strong, and he repaired all the wall which had been breached, and he erected another wall, up to the towers and on the outside, and he restored the Millo in the City of David, and he had missiles made in abundance, and shields. ⁶And he appointed army commanders over the people, and he gathered them to himself in the square at the city gate, and he spoke to them warmheartedly and said, ⁷“Be strong and be courageous; do not fear and do not be afraid of the king of Assyria and of all the crowd which is with him, for there is a mightier one with us than the one with him. ⁸With him there is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our wars.” And the people trusted the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. ⁹After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem – while he and all his realm with him went against Lachish – to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all the population of Judah which was in Jerusalem, and he said, ¹⁰“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: ‘In what are you putting your trust, since you are living under siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Isn't Hezekiah misleading you, so as to deliver you up to die of hunger and of thirst, saying, «The Lord our God will deliver us from the grip of the king of Assyria»? ¹²Was it not Hezekiah who removed his raised sites and his altars, when he spoke to Judah and Jerusalem and said, «You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense»? ¹³Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the various peoples of the countries at large? Could the gods of the countries possibly deliver their land from my grip? ¹⁴Who is there among all the gods of these nations whom my fathers obliterated, who can deliver his people from my grip? So will your God be able to deliver you from my grip? ¹⁵So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom will be able to deliver his people from my grip or from the grip of my fathers, so how much less will your gods deliver you from my grip?’ ” ¹⁶And his servants spoke more against the Lord God and against Hezekiah his servant. ¹⁷And he wrote a communiqué scorning the Lord God of Israel, and speaking against him, saying, “Just as the gods of the countries are which did not deliver their people from my grip, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my grip.” ¹⁸And they called out in a loud voice in Judaean to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and alarm them, in order to capture the city. ¹⁹And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as they did against the gods of the nations of the land – the product of man's hands. ²⁰And King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed about this, and they cried out to heaven. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel, and he obliterated every valiant warrior and leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria, and he returned to his land shamefacedly, and when he went to the house of his gods, his own offspring struck him down there by the sword. ²²So the Lord delivered Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the grip of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and from the grip of all, and he led them around. ²³And many would bring a gift to the Lord, to Jerusalem, and valuable items to Hezekiah king of Judah, and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after that. ²⁴In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill, and he prayed to the Lord, who spoke to him, and who performed a miracle for him. ²⁵But Hezekiah did not reciprocate according to what had been shown to him, for his heart was proud, and anger came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Then Hezekiah humbled himself in regard to his pride – he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem – and the Lord's anger did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷And Hezekiah had very great wealth and honour, and he made himself treasuries for silver and for gold, and for precious stone, and for fragrances, and for shields, and for all kinds of desirable items, ²⁸and storehouses for the crop of grain and new wine and fresh oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and he acquired herds for the stalls. ²⁹And he acquired cities and sheep and oxen livestock in abundance, for God gave him very great possessions. ³⁰And it was Hezekiah who blocked the upper water-source of Gihon, and who brought the water straight down to the west of the City of David, and Hezekiah was successful in all his undertakings. ³¹But actually, with the interpreters of the officials from Babylon having come, whom they had sent to him to inquire about the miracle which had taken place in the land, God left him, so as to test him – to know everything in his heart. ³²And as for the rest of the affairs of Hezekiah, and his kind deeds, they are to be seen written in the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah lay with his fathers, and they buried him at the rise of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid honour to him in his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.