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2. AikakirjaLuku 32

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After all this faithful work, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to take them for himself.
When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and was set on attacking Jerusalem,
he consulted with his officers and his warriors about stopping up the springs outside the city, and they supported him.
A large force was mustered, and they 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.
Then Hezekiah set to work with resolve. He rebuilt every broken section of the wall, raised towers on it, built another wall outside it, and reinforced the Millo in the City of David. He also produced weapons and shields in quantity.
He appointed commanders over the people, gathered them to himself in the square at the city gate, and encouraged them with these words:
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and the whole horde with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.
With him is only human strength, 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.
Afterward, while Sennacherib king of Assyria was still at Lachish with all his forces, he sent his servants to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, with this message:
"This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are you relying, that you sit under siege in Jerusalem?
Is not Hezekiah misleading you, handing you over to die of hunger and thirst, when he says, 'The LORD our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria'?
Was it not this same Hezekiah who removed his God's high places and altars and told Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at one altar and burn your offerings there'?
Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands ever able to save their land from my hand?
Among all the gods of those nations that my fathers destroyed, which one could save his people from my hand? How then can your God save you from my hand?
So do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him. For no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God save you from my hand!"
His servants said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
Sennacherib also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and speaking against him: "Just as the gods of the nations of other lands did not save their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand."
Then they shouted loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might capture the city.
They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.
Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven.
And the LORD sent an angel, who cut down every mighty warrior, every commander and officer, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, his own sons struck him down there with the sword.
So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from every other hand, and he gave them rest on every side.
Many brought offerings to the LORD in Jerusalem and costly gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.
In those days Hezekiah fell sick and was near death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a sign.
But Hezekiah did not respond in keeping with the kindness shown him, for his heart grew proud. So wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the people of Jerusalem with him, and the LORD's wrath did not come upon them during Hezekiah's lifetime.
Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor. He made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuables,
as well as storehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil, and stalls for every kind of livestock, and flocks in the pens.
He built towns for himself and acquired great numbers of sheep and cattle, for God had given him very great possessions.
It was this same Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook.
And so it was with the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the sign that had occurred in the land: God left him to himself, to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his faithful deeds are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried on the ascent to the tombs of David's descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.
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