After Hezekiah did all these things to serve the Lord, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and attacked Judah. He and his army surrounded and attacked the strong, walled cities, hoping to take them for himself.
“Assyria will be defeated by a sword, but not the sword of a person; Assyria will be destroyed, but not by a person’s sword. Assyria will run away from the sword of God, but its young men will be caught and made slaves.
They will panic, and their protection will be destroyed. Their commanders will be terrified when they see God’s battle flag,” says the Lord, whose fire is in Jerusalem and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Because you rage against me, and because I have heard your proud words, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. Then I will force you to leave my country the same way you came.’
Listen! I am going to put a spirit in the king of Assyria. He will hear a report that will make him return to his own country, and I will cause him to die by the sword there.’ ”
Then shouldn’t I show concern for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong, and many animals, too?”
They will destroy the Assyrians with their swords; they will conquer the land of Assyria with their swords drawn. They will rescue us from the Assyrians when they come into our land, when they walk over our borders.
On the Judgment Day the people from Nineveh will stand up with you people who live now, and they will show that you are guilty. When Jonah preached to them, they were sorry and changed their lives. And I tell you that someone greater than Jonah is here.