15. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:
16. “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.
17. Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God!
18. It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands.
19. They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.
20. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”
21. Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,
22. this is what the Lord says about him:“The virgin daughter Zion despises you – she makes fun of you;daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you.
23. Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?At whom have you shoutedand looked so arrogantly?At the Holy One of Israel!
24. Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,‘With my many chariots I climbed upthe high mountains,the slopes of Lebanon.I cut down its tall cedarsand its best evergreens.I invaded its most remote regions,its thickest woods.
25. I dug wellsand drank water.With the soles of my feet I dried upall the rivers of Egypt.’
26. Certainly you must have heard!Long ago I worked it out,in ancient times I planned it,and now I am bringing it to pass.The plan is this:Fortified cities will crashinto heaps of ruins.
27. Their residents are powerless;they are terrified and ashamed.They are as short-lived as plants in the fieldor green vegetation.They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftopswhen it is scorched by the east wind.