19 When King Hizkiyah heard the threats from the Assyrian king, he tore his clothes and dressed in sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s temple. 2 He sent his palace manager Elyakim and the scribe Shebna, along with the elders of the priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to Amots’s son Yeshayah (Isaiah) the prophet 3 to tell him, “Hizkiyah says: ‘Today is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as if the baby is right there ready to be delivered, but the mother has lost all her strength. 4 Perhaps your God Yahweh has heard everything that the chief commander said when his master the Assyrian king sent him: he defied the living God, and so maybe your God Yahweh will punish him for his words. Lift up a prayer on behalf of the people that are still left here.’ ”

5 When King Hizkiyah’s servants got to Yeshayah, 6 he told them, “This is what you all should tell your master: Yahweh says that you needn’t be afraid of what you heard when those young men from the Assyrian king insulted him. 7 Listen, Yahweh will cause him to hear a report and he’ll place a fearful spirit in him so he’ll decide to return to his own country where he’ll be assassinated.”