17. Bend down, O lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18. “It is true, lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations.
19. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
20. Now, O lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O lord, are God.”
21. Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria,
22. the lord has spoken this word against him:“The virgin daughter of Ziondespises you and laughs at you.The daughter of Jerusalemshakes her head in derision as you flee.
23. “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?Against whom did you raise your voice?At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?It was the Holy One of Israel!
24. By your messengers you have defied the Lord.You have said, ‘With my many chariotsI have conquered the highest mountains—yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedarsand its finest cypress trees.I have reached its farthest heightsand explored its deepest forests.
25. I have dug wells in many foreign landsand refreshed myself with their water.With the sole of my foot,I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
26. “But have you not heard?I decided this long ago.Long ago I planned it,and now I am making it happen.I planned for you to crush fortified citiesinto heaps of rubble.
27. That is why their people have so little powerand are so frightened and confused.They are as weak as grass,as easily trampled as tender green shoots.They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,scorched before it can grow lush and tall.
28. “But I know you well—where you stayand when you come and go.I know the way you have raged against me.