10. They said, “King Sennacherib of Assyria says this: ‘What do you trust in that makes you stay under attack in Jerusalem?
11. Hezekiah is fooling you. You are being tricked into staying in Jerusalem so that you will die from hunger and thirst. Hezekiah says to you, “The Lord our God will save us from the king of Assyria.”
12. But Hezekiah himself took away the high places and altars that belonged to that god. He told you people of Judah and Jerusalem that you must worship and burn incense on only one altar.
13. Of course, you know what my ancestors and I have done to all the peoples in other countries. The gods of the other countries could not save their people. Those gods could not stop me from destroying their people.
14. My ancestors destroyed those countries. There is no god that can stop me from destroying his people. So you think your god can save you from me?
15. Don’t let Hezekiah fool you or trick you. Don’t believe him because no god of any nation or kingdom has ever been able to keep his people safe from me or my ancestors. Don’t think your god can stop me from destroying you.’”
16. The officers of the king of Assyria said worse things against the Lord God and against Hezekiah, God’s servant.
17. The king of Assyria also wrote letters that insulted the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what the king of Assyria said in those letters: “The gods of the other nations could not stop me from destroying their people. In the same way Hezekiah’s god will not be able to stop me from destroying his people.”
18. Then the Assyrian officers shouted loudly to the people of Jerusalem who were on the city wall. They spoke in the language of Judah so that the people on the wall could understand and be frightened enough that the Assyrians could capture the city of Jerusalem.
19. Then they insulted the God of Jerusalem just as they had insulted all the gods of the people from other nations—even though those gods are only things people made with their hands.
20. Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this problem. They prayed very loudly to heaven.
21. Then the Lord sent an angel to the king of Assyria’s camp. That angel killed all the soldiers, leaders, and officers in the Assyrian army. So the king of Assyria went back home to his own country, and his people were ashamed of him. He went into the temple of his god and some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.