Isaiah 37:1-13 - Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
1 As soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD's Temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz's son, the prophet Isaiah. 3 "Here is what Hezekiah says," they told him. "This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them. 4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city."
5 That's why King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah. 6 "Here is what to tell your master," Isaiah told them. "This is what the LORD says: "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me. 7 Watch this! I'm going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he'll return to his own country. Then I'll have him cut down by the sword in his own land."
8 So the field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. 9 Now King Sennacherib had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: "He has marched out to fight against you." 10 When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah: "Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: "Don't let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?'"