Isaiah predicted that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem

21 Then I sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, says: Because you prayed about what King Sennacherib of Assyria said, 22 this is what I say to him:

‘The people of Jerusalem despise you and make fun of you.

They will wag/shake their heads to mock you while you flee from here.

23 Whom do you think you have been despising and ridiculing?

Whom do you think you were shouting at?

Whom do you think you were looking at very proudly/arrogantly?

It was I, the Holy One whom the Israelis worship!

24 The messengers whom you sent made fun of me.

You said, “With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains,

even to the highest mountains in Lebanon.

We have cut down its tallest cedar trees

and its nicest pine/cypress trees.

We have been to the most distant/remote peaks

and to its densest forests.

25 We have dug wells in many countries and drunk water from them.

And by marching through [MTY] the streams of Egypt,

we dried them all up [HYP]!”

26 But I, Yahweh, reply, “Have you never heard that long ago I determined those things;

I planned them long ago,

and now I have been causing those things to occur.

I planned that your army would destroy cities

and cause them to become piles of rubble.

27 The people in those cities have no power,

and as a result they are dismayed and discouraged.

They are as frail as [MET] grass and plants in the fields,

as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses

and is scorched by the hot east wind.

28 But I know everything about you;

I know when you are in your house and when you go outside;

I also know that you are ◄raging/speaking very angrily► against me.

29 So, because you have raged against me

and because I have heard you speak very proudly/arrogantly,

it will be as though I will put a hook in your nose

and I will put an iron ◄bit/metal bar► in your mouth in order that I can lead you where I want you to go,

and I will force you to return to your own country,

on the same road on which you came here, without conquering Jerusalem.” ’

30 Then I said to Hezekiah, ‘This will prove to you that what I said will happen:

“This year, you(pl) will eat only the crops that grow by themselves,

and next year the same thing will happen.

But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;

you will take care of your vineyards and eat the grapes.

31 And you people who are still here in Judah,

will be strong and prosper again [MET].

32 A small number of my people will survive,

and they will spread out from Jerusalem [DOU].”

That will happen because I, the Commander of the armies of angels, am desiring very much to accomplish it.’

33 And this is what I, Yahweh, say about the King of Assyria:

‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem;

they will not even shoot arrows into it.

His soldiers will not march outside the city gates holding their shields,

and they will not build high mounds of dirt against the walls of the city

to enable them to attack the city.

34 And their king will return to his own country

on the same road on which he came here.

He will not enter this city!’

That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said it!

35 For the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised King David, who served me well,

I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed.”

36 That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had set up their tents and killed 185,000 of their soldiers. When the rest of the soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib left and returned home to Nineveh in Assyria, and stayed there.

38 One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to the Ararat region northwest of Nineveh. And another of Sennacherib’s sons, Esarhaddon, became the King of Assyria.