Hezekiah Mourns and Isaiah Answers the Blasphemous Speech

Hezekiah rends his clothes, goes to the house of the LORD, and sends to Isaiah

And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. Mourning, temple, and remnant prayer are the king's first moves. The crisis is named blasphemy against the living God. The scene is not nationalism or war propaganda.

Isaiah answers with a rumor, a return, and a fall by the sword in the king's own land

And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

Fear of the words is forbidden because the insult was aimed at the LORD. The promised sequence is spirit-blast, rumor, retreat, death at home. Present-enemy mapping and imitation of imperial violence are not authorized. Assyria remains that king.