²⁷ “Do not be afraid, O my people who are dwelling in Zion, because of the Assyrian, who with the rod used to strike you and who used to lift up his own staff against you in the way that Egypt did.

28. When the situation looked blackest back in 732 B.C.E., what did King Hezekiah do, and what was Sennacherib put on notice to expect?

²⁸ When the situation becomes blackest for Jehovah’s witnesses as the world’s “great tribulation” nears its climax, what is to be expected? Back in 732 B.C.E., Sennacherib went to the limit in ridiculing Jehovah, as if He were no more powerful than the false gods of the idol-worshiping nations. (2 Ki. 19:10-13) Then King Hezekiah took the matter to Jehovah in his temple at Jerusalem. Jehovah not only gave reassurance to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah but also sent a defiance to Sennacherib, who was then at Libnah, some miles distant from Jerusalem. (2 Ki. 19:8, 14-34) Thus the blasphemous Sennacherib was put on notice to expect disastrous defeat at the hands of the God whom he defied. Then action by Jehovah followed for vindication of Him as a real God!