ESP8266 and Arduino Interfacing

I have connected Arduino with ESP8266 with

Arduino pin 2 connected to ESP's Tx Arduino pin 3 connected to ESP's Rx via Voltage Divider Arduino GND connected to ESP's GND Arduino 3v3 connected to ESP's CH_PD

I have powered ESP8266 using 1117 Voltage regulator

When I initially bought ESP8266 it was working properly(I could even set up a server) but now when I connect it to Arduino an endless stream of garbage values is seen on the Serial Monitor...

The arduino is programmed with the following code

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

SoftwareSerial esp8266(2,3); // make RX Arduino line is pin 2, make TX Arduino line is pin 3.
                             // This means that you need to connect the TX line from the esp to the Arduino's pin 2
                             // and the RX line from the esp to the Arduino's pin 3
void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  esp8266.begin(9600); // your esp's baud rate might be different
}

void loop()
{
  if(esp8266.available()) // check if the esp is sending a message 
  {
    while(esp8266.available())
    {
      // The esp has data so display its output to the serial window 
      char c = esp8266.read(); // read the next character.
      Serial.write(c);
    }  
  }



  if(Serial.available())
  {
    // the following delay is required because otherwise the arduino will read the first letter of the command but not the rest
    // In other words without the delay if you use AT+RST, for example, the Arduino will read the letter A send it, then read the rest and send it
    // but we want to send everything at the same time.
    delay(1000); 

    String command="";

    while(Serial.available()) // read the command character by character
    {
        // read one character
      command+=(char)Serial.read();
    }
    esp8266.println(command); // send the read character to the esp8266
  }
}