26-27. “‘Haven’t you gotten the newsthat I’ve been behind this all along?This is a longstanding plan of mineand I’m just now making it happen,using you to devastate strong cities,turning them into piles of rubbleand leaving their citizens helpless,bewildered, and confused,drooping like unwatered plants,stunted like withered seedlings.
28-29. “‘I know all about your pretentious poses,your officious comings and goings,and, yes, the tantrums you throw against me.Because of all your wild raging against me,your unbridled arrogance that I keep hearing of,I’ll put my hook in your noseand my bit in your mouth.I’ll show you who’s boss. I’ll turn you aroundand take you back to where you came from.
30-32. “‘And this, Hezekiah, will be your confirming sign: This year’s crops will be slim pickings, and next year it won’t be much better. But in three years, farming will be back to normal, with regular sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting. What’s left of the people of Judah will put down roots and make a new start. The people left in Jerusalem will get moving again. Mount Zion survivors will take hold again. The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this.’
33-35. “Finally, this is God’s verdict on the king of Assyria:“‘Don’t worry, he won’t enter this city,won’t let loose a single arrow,Won’t brandish so much as one shield,let alone build a siege ramp against it.He’ll go back the same way he came.He won’t set a foot in this city.God’s Decree.I’ve got my hand on this cityto save it,Save it for my very own sake,but also for the sake of my David dynasty.’”
36-38. Then the Angel of God arrived and struck the Assyrian camp—185,000 Assyrians died. By the time the sun came up, they were all dead—an army of corpses! Sennacherib, king of Assyria, got out of there fast, back home to Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the sanctuary of his god Nisroch, he was murdered by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer. They escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became the next king.