In his distress Hezekiah 'rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord;' his servants he sent to Isaiah the prophet to ask his advice.
Isaiah prophesied the immediate destruction of the Assyrian host, and the imminent death of Sennacherib by the sword in his own land.
But in spite of this. Hezekiah received a letter from Sennacherib once again demanding his surrender. This time, however, he took the letter and laid it before the Lord in the temple. That night his prayer was answered, for 'the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.'