Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Asks God to Help
1When King Hezekiah heard the message, he tore his clothes and put on rough cloth to show how sad he was. Then he went into the Temple of the Lord. 2Hezekiah sent Eliakim, the palace manager, and Shebna, the royal secretary, and the older priests to Isaiah. They were all wearing rough cloth when they came to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3They told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of sorrow and punishment and disgrace, as when a child should be born, but the mother is not strong enough to give birth to it. 4The king of Assyria sent his field commander to make fun of the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear what the commander said and will punish him for it. So pray for the few of us who are left alive.”
5When Hezekiah’s officers came to Isaiah, 6he said to them, “Tell your master this: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you have heard. Don’t be frightened by the words the servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against me. 7Listen! I am going to put a spirit in the king of Assyria. He will hear a report that will make him return to his own country, and I will cause him to die by the sword there.’ ”
8The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. When he went back, he found the king fighting against the city of Libnah.
9The king received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was coming to attack him. When the king of Assyria heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Tell Hezekiah king of Judah: Don’t be fooled by the god you trust. Don’t believe him when he says Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done. They have completely defeated every country, so do not think you will be saved. 12Did the gods of those people save them? My ancestors destroyed them, defeating the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and the people of Eden living in Tel Assar. 13Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
Hezekiah Prays to the Lord
14When Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Temple of the Lord. He spread the letter out before the Lord 15and prayed to the Lord: 16“Lord All-Powerful, you are the God of Israel, whose throne is between the gold creatures with wings, only you are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17Hear, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to all the words Sennacherib has said to insult the living God.
18“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these countries and their lands. 19They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire, but they were only wood and rock statues that people made. So the kings have destroyed them. 20Now, Lord our God, save us from the king’s power so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”
The Lord Answers Hezekiah
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah that said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘You prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. 22So this is what the Lord has said against Sennacherib:
The people of Jerusalem
hate you and make fun of you;
the people of Jerusalem
laugh at you as you run away.
23You have insulted me and spoken against me;
you have raised your voice against me.
You have a proud look on your face,
which is against me, the Holy One of Israel!
24You have sent your messengers to insult the Lord.
You have said, “With my many chariots
I have gone to the tops of the mountains,
to the highest mountains of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its best pine trees.
I have gone to its greatest heights
and its best forests.
25I have dug wells in foreign countries
and drunk water there.
By the soles of my feet,
I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”
26“ ‘King of Assyria, surely you have heard.
Long ago I, the Lord, planned these things.
Long ago I designed them,
and now I have made them happen.
I allowed you to turn those strong, walled cities
into piles of rocks.
27The people in those cities were weak;
they were frightened and put to shame.
They were like grass in the field,
like tender, young grass,
like grass on the housetop
that is burned by the wind before it can grow.
28“ ‘I know when you rest,
when you come and go,
and how you rage against me.
29Because you rage against me,
and because I have heard your proud words,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
Then I will force you to leave my country
the same way you came.’
30“Then the Lord said, ‘Hezekiah, I will give you this sign:
This year you will eat the grain that grows wild,
and the second year you will eat what grows wild from that.
But in the third year, plant grain and harvest it.
Plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31Some of the people in the family of Judah
will escape.
Like plants that take root,
they will grow strong and have many children.
32A few people will come out of Jerusalem alive;
a few from Mount Zion will live.
The strong love of the Lord All-Powerful
will make this happen.’
33“So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not enter this city
or even shoot an arrow here.
He will not fight against it with shields
or build a ramp to attack the city walls.
34He will return to his country the same way he came,
and he will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
35‘I will defend and save this city
for my sake and for David, my servant.’ ”
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there.
38One day as Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. So Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became king of Assyria.
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Isaiah 37: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help
1And when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh [the commander], whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left.’ ”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6Isaiah said to them, “You shall say the following to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Listen carefully, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
8So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah], for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9And Sennacherib king of Assyria, heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush (Ethiopia), “He has come out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“You shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11Listen carefully, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, utterly destroying them. So will you be rescued? 12Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed rescue them—#The place-names in this verse are all found on the Assyrian monuments. For further information, see E.S. Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, and his comments on 2 Kin 19:12.Gozan, Haran [of Mesopotamia], Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad [of northern Syria], the king of the city of Sepharvaim, [the king of] Hena, or [the king of] Ivvah?’ ”
Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple
14Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt and defy the living God. 18It is true, O Lord, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, 19and have cast the gods [of those peoples] into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 20Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and fully realize that You alone, Lord, are #So DSS and 2 Kin 19:19; MT omits God.God.”
God Answers through Isaiah
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “For the Lord, the God of Israel says this, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:
“She has shown contempt for you and mocked you,
The Virgin Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem);
She has shaken her head behind you,
The Daughter of Jerusalem!
23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24Through your servants you have taunted and defied the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypress trees;
And I will go to its remotest height, its most luxuriant and thickest forest.
25I dug wells and drank [foreign] waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals [of the Nile] of Egypt.’
26Have you not heard [says the God of Israel]
That I did it long ago,
That I planned it in ancient times?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you [king of Assyria] would [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
27Therefore their inhabitants had little power,
They were terrorized and shamed;
They were like the grass of the field and the green vegetation,
Like grass on the housetops and like a field [of grain] scorched before it is grown.
28But I know your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in [every detail of your life],
And your raging against Me.
29Because your raging against Me
And your arrogance has come up to My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your #Lit lips.mouth,
And I will turn you back by the way you came.
30“This shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: you are to eat this year #Called “second growth,” this ordinarily referred to uncultivated produce that grew during the Sabbath year (when sowing was forbidden) from seed that fell outside the boundaries of the field the preceding year.what grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same, and in the third year you are to sow and harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” ’
33“Therefore, the Lord says this concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with shield, or raise an assault ramp against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same way he will return, and he will not come into this city,’ declares the Lord. 35‘For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’ ”
Assyrians Destroyed
36And the #See note Gen 16:7.angel of the Lord went out and #This is the fulfillment of the prophecy made in Is 31:8, 9. See also 10:33, 34; 14:25; 17:14; 30:31.struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the [surviving] men got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and lived at Nineveh. 38It came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat [in Armenia]. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
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