²⁰ And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, made prayer because of this, crying out to heaven.

² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³ And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.

⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so then make your prayer for the rest of the people.

¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord.

¹⁵ And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.

¹⁶ Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.

¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands,

¹⁸ And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.

¹⁹ But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.

¹¹ And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours.

⁶ And said, O Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in your hands are power and strength so that no one is able to keep his place against you.

⁷ Did you not, O Lord our God, after driving out the people of this land before your people Israel, give it to the seed of Abraham, your friend, for ever?

⁸ And they made it their living-place, building there a holy house for your name, and saying,

⁹ If evil comes on us, the sword, or punishment, or disease, or need of food, we will come to this house and to you, (for your name is in this house,) crying to you in our trouble, and you will give us salvation in answer to our cry.

¹⁰ And now, see, the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, whom you kept Israel from attacking when they came out of Egypt, so that turning to one side they did not send destruction on them:

¹¹ See now, how as our reward they have come to send us out of your land which you have given us as our heritage.

¹² O our God, will you not be their judge? for our strength is not equal to this great army which is coming against us; and we are at a loss what to do: but our eyes are on you.

¹⁵ Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me.

¹⁴ Because he has given me his love, I will take him out of danger: I will put him in a place of honour, because he has kept my name in his heart.

¹⁵ When his cry comes up to me, I will give him an answer: I will be with him in trouble; I will make him free from danger and give him honour.

¹ And on hearing it Hezekiah took off his robe and put on haircloth and went into the house of the Lord.

² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³ And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame: for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.

⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people.

¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord,

¹⁵ And he made prayer to the Lord, saying,

¹⁶ O Lord of armies, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.

¹⁷ Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord; let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see: take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.

¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste all the nations and their lands,

¹⁹ And have given their gods to the fire: for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.

²⁰ But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hand, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you, and you only, are the Lord.