After everything Hezekiah had done so faithfully, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to invade Judah. He set up camp ⌞to attack⌟ the fortified cities. He intended to conquer them himself.
The Almighty Lord of Armies says: My people who live in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with a rod or when they raise their staff against you as the Egyptians did.
The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River with his scorching wind and divide it into seven streams so that people can walk over it in their sandals.
In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.
This is the message that the Lord speaks to him, ‘My dear people in Zion despise you and laugh at you. My people in Jerusalem shake their heads behind your back.
It will sweep through Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will be neck-high. Its outspread wings will extend over your whole country, O Immanuel.
Its people take hold of bows and spears. They are cruel and have no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea. They ride on horses. They march like soldiers ready for battle against my people Zion.
David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was trembling as he went to meet David. “Why are you alone?” he asked David. “Why is no one with you?”
“The king ordered me to do something,” David answered the priest Ahimelech, “and he told me, ‘No one must know anything about this mission I’m sending you on and about the orders I’ve given you. I’ve stationed my young men at a certain place.’ ”