5. That’s the message King Hezekiah’s servants delivered to Isaiah.
16. Open your ears, God, and listen,open your eyes and look.Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent,a brazen insult to the living God!
17. The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyriahave laid waste countries and kingdoms.
18. Huge bonfires they made of their gods, theirno-gods hand-made from wood and stone.
19. But now O God, our God,save us from raw Assyrian power;Make all the kingdoms on earth knowthat you are God, the one and only God.
22. Who do you think it is you’ve insulted?Who do you think you’ve been bad-mouthing?Before whom do you suppose you’ve been strutting?The Holy One of Israel, that’s who!
23. You dispatched your errand boysto humiliate the Master.You bragged, “With my army of chariotsI’ve climbed the highest mountains,snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!I’ve cut down its giant cedars,chopped down its prize pine trees.I’ve traveled the world,visited the finest forest retreats.
24. I’ve dug wells in faraway placesand drunk their exotic waters;I’ve waded and splashed barefootin the rivers of Egypt.”
25. Did it never occur to youthat I’m behind all this?Long, long ago I drew up the plans,and now I’ve gone into action,Using you as a doomsday weapon,reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,
26. Leaving their people dispirited,slumped shoulders, limp souls.Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.
27. I know when you sit down, when you comeand when you go;And, yes, I’ve marked every oneof your temper tantrums against me.
28. It’s because of your temper,your blasphemous foul temper,That I’m putting my hook in your noseand my bit in your mouthAnd turning you backto where you came from.
29. And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:This year you’ll eat the gleanings, next yearwhatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;But the third year you’ll sow and harvest,plant vineyards and eat grapes.
30. A remnant of the family of Judah yet againwill sink down roots and raise up fruit.
31. The remnant will come from Jerusalem,the survivors from Mount Zion.The Zeal of Godwill make it happen.
32. To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:He won’t enter this city,nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;Won’t brandish a shield,won’t even begin to set siege;
33. He’ll go home by the same road he came;he won’t enter this city. God’s word!