And it came to pass, when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, died, that Sennacherib his son reigned in his stead, and the highways of Media were closed because of the wars which were in the land, and I could not go to the land of Media to receive my money. And after this I gave many alms to the poor of my nation, who were orphans and widows, and when I saw the slain of my nation cast forth outside the wall of Nineveh, I kept not quiet, and rested not until I had buried them.
Now it came to pass, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, returned from Judah to Nineveh with confusion of face, because that the Lord God of Israel had smitten him in the land of Judah for the reproach wherewith he reproached and blasphemed the God of Israel, that therefore he was wroth with all the congregations of Israel throughout his kingdom, and he killed exceeding many of them. And I sought to know the truth of the matter, why this calamity came upon the tribe of Israel, for I know of a truth that the Holy One (blessed is he) is a God of truth and without iniquity, and I found that the tribes of Israel did not lay to heart the destruction of their brethren, which Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had brought on them; their strongholds he set on fire, and their young men he slew with the sword, and their women with child he ripped up.