2 Chronicles 32:15-22

32:15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how ¹  can your gods rescue ²  you from my power?’”

32:16 Sennacherib’s ³  servants further insulted ⁴  the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah. 32:17 He wrote letters mocking the Lord God of Israel and insulting him with these words: ⁵  “The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah’s god rescue his people from my power.” ⁶  32:18 They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city. 32:19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

32:20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven. 32:21 The Lord sent a messenger ⁷  and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib ⁸  returned home humiliated. ⁹  When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons ¹⁰  struck him down with the sword. 32:22 The Lord delivered Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all the other nations. ¹¹  He made them secure on every side. ¹² 

[32:15]  ¹ tn Heb “how much less.”

[32:15]  ² tn The verb is plural, suggesting that the preceding אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (’elohekhem) be translated “your gods,” rather than “your God.”

[32:16]  ³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[32:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “spoke against.”

[32:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and speaking against him, saying.”

[32:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.”

[32:21]  ⁷ tn Or “an angel.”

[32:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he returned with shame of face to his land.”

[32:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and some from those who went out from him, from his inward parts.”

[32:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and from the hand of all.”

[32:22]  ¹² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he led him from all around.” However, the present translation assumes an emendation to וַיָּנַח לָהֶם מִסָּבִיב (vayyanakh lahem missaviv, “and he gave rest to them from all around”). See 2 Chr 15:15 and 20:30.