The reply to this blasphemous epistle was dictated by Isaiah. In it he predicted that Sennacherib would return to his country in abject defeat, for God was not willing to give up the city. Before Rab-shakeh could bring the answer to Sennacherib, a change had already taken place. Tirhakah, the Ethiopian king of Egypt, who desired to prevent the advance of the Assyrians, went to meet them with a large army. Hearing of the advance of the Egyptian and Ethiopian troops, Sennacherib left his encampment in Lachish, collected his scattered forces, and proceeded southward as far as the Egyptian frontier town, Pelusium, which he besieged. Hezekiah's despair at Sennacherib's blasphemous letter was calmed by Isaiah's prediction that the land would indeed suffer want in this and in the coming year, but after this it would once more regain its fertility; 'yea, the remnant of Judah would again strike its root downward, and bear fruit upward, and this revival would proceed from Jerusalem; but Sennacherib would not be permitted to direct even an arrow against Jerusalem.' Whilst the king and the nobles who believed in Isaiah's prophecy, gave themselves up to hope, looking upon the departure of the besieging troops from before Jerusalem as the beginning of the realisation of the prophetic prediction, an event occurred which roused fresh terror in Jerusalem. Hezekiah was afflicted with a virulent tumour, and was in such imminent danger that even Isaiah advised him to put his house in order and arrange for the succession, as he would not recover from his sickness. The death of the king, without heirs, in this stormy time, would have been a signal for disunion among the princes of Judah, and would have occasioned a civil war in the distressed capital. The nation was strongly attached to its gentle and noble king. He was the very breath of its life; and the prospect of losing him made him doubly dear to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. At this sorrowful prediction, Hezekiah, lying on his sick bed, turned his face to the wall, and tearfully prayed to God. Then Isaiah announced to him that his prayers had been heard, that God would send him health, and that on the third day he would repair to the Temple. By the application of soft figs the ulcer disappeared, and he became well again. On his recovery the king composed a heartfelt psalm of praise, which was probably sung in the Temple. (Isaiah xxxviii. 10-20.)