Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

(Isaiah 37:8–13)

8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found [the king] fighting against Libnah.

9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush “Look, he has set out to fight against you.”

So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah

‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all [the other] countries, devoting them to destruction.[fn] Will you then be spared? 12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue [those nations]—[the gods of] Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? 13 Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”