¹ And it came about in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the walled towns of Judah and took them.

¹ Now after these things and this true-hearted work, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came into Judah, and put his army in position before the walled towns of Judah, designing to make his way into them by force.

¹³ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the walled towns of Judah and took them.

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a strong force. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and took up their position by the stream of the higher pool, by the highway of the washerman's field.

⁷ Your country has become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strange lands.

⁸ And the daughter of Zion has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field of fruit, like a town shut in by armies.

¹⁷ The Lord is about to send on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, such a time of trouble as there has not been from the days of the separating of Ephraim from Judah; even the coming of the king of Assyria.

⁷ For this cause the Lord is sending on them the waters of the River, deep and strong, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it will come up through all its streams, overflowing all its edges:

⁸ And it will come on into Judah; rushing on and overflowing, till the waters are up to the neck; *** and his outstretched wings will be covering the land from side to side: for God is with us.

²⁸ He has gone up from Pene-Rimmon, he has come to Aiath; he has gone past Migron, at Michmash he puts his forces in order.

²⁹ They have gone across the mountain; Geba will be our resting-place tonight, they say: Ramah is shaking with fear; Gibeah of Saul has gone in flight.

³⁰ Give a loud cry, daughter of Gallim; let Laishah give ear; let Anathoth give answer to her.

³¹ Madmenah has gone; the men of Gebim are putting their goods in a safe place.

³² This very day he is stopping at Nob; he is shaking his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

⁷ See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.

⁸ The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.