Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Seeks God’s Help
1When Hezekiah heard what the commander had said, he tore his robe, put on sackcloth, and went to the temple of Yahweh. 2And he sent Eliakim, the palace administrator; Shebna, the royal scribe; and the leading priests—all clothed in sackcloth—to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. 3They told him, “Here is Hezekiah’s message: ‘This is a day of great anguish, rebuke, and humiliation. We are desperate, as in the day a woman is in heavy labor but has no strength left to give birth. # 37:3 See Isa. 66:8; Rom. 8:19–21. 4Perhaps Lord Yahweh, your God, will take note of all the blasphemous words of the Assyrian commander who was sent by his master, the king of Assyria, to ridicule the living God. And may Lord Yahweh, your God, rebuke him for the words he heard him speak. So therefore, we come to ask you to pray for us, the remnant that still survives.’ ”
5-6Isaiah answered the king’s delegation, saying, “Tell your master these words: ‘Here is what Lord Yahweh says about this matter: “Don’t fear or be frightened by the blasphemous words of the servants of the king of Assyria. 7I will put in him a mindset # 37:7 Or “I will put a spirit [attitude] in him.” that will cause him, when he hears a certain rumor, to flee back to his own country. And when he returns I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
8Meanwhile, the Assyrian commander returned to the king, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish to lay siege against the city of Libnah. # 37:8 Libnah was one of the thirteen cities allotted to the priests in Israel. See Josh. 21:13–21. 9Now, King Sennacherib had heard a report that the king of Ethiopia, Tirhakah, had allied with Hezekiah and was coming to fight against him. So when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this message:
10“Don’t let this God in whom you trust mislead you into thinking that Jerusalem will not fall and be delivered into the hand of the mighty king of Assyria. 11Certainly you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them all. Do you really think you’ll be delivered? 12Did any of their gods come to their rescue? Where were the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel Azzar when my predecessors destroyed their lands? # 37:12 These are cities of northern Mesopotamia located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. 13Tell me, where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arphad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivva?” # 37:13 These are cities of Syria.
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14When the messengers delivered Sennacherib’s message to Hezekiah, he read it and immediately went into the temple of Yahweh and spread it out before the Lord. 15And he prayed:
16“O Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, the God of Israel, you are enthroned between the wings of the cherubim and you reign supreme as God over all the kingdoms of the world, for you alone are Creator of heaven and earth. 17Please lean down to hear my prayer. Yahweh, open your eyes and see me here calling out to you. Listen carefully to every blasphemous word Sennacherib has sent to ridicule and insult you, the living God.
18“Lord Yahweh, truly the Assyrian kings have annihilated all these nations and conquered their lands. 19They smashed and burned their gods, for they’re not truly gods but mere idols made by human hands shaped from wood and stone. That’s why they could be destroyed. 20So now, our loving God, Yahweh, save us from the Assyrians so that the whole world will know that you alone are Yahweh, Lord God Almighty.”
Isaiah’s Prophecy to Hezekiah
21Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah:
“Hear the words of Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Because you prayed to me about the taunts of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 22this is what I, Yahweh, decree concerning him:
“ ‘The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and ridicules you.
My daughter, Jerusalem,
tosses her head back and makes fun of you!
23Whom do you think you’re mocking and blaspheming?
Against whom do you raise your voice?
And whom have you looked down upon in your arrogance?
None other than me, the Holy One of Israel!
24You sent your messengers to mock the Lord.
You boast, “My vast number of chariots
has taken me up the highest mountains,
to the heights of Lebanon’s forests.
I cut down its loftiest cedars, its choicest cypresses.
I ascended its highest peak and claimed its great forests.
25I dug wells and drank foreign water. # 37:25 As translated from the Dead Sea scroll 1QIsaa. See 2 Kings 19:24.
The feet of my armies trampled the Nile delta dry.”
26“ ‘Have you not learned that I planned all this long ago?
Yes, from ages past I planned it, and now I fulfill it,
that you would conquer fortified cities
and turn them into piles of stones.
27The inhabitants were frightened and ashamed.
They became as fragile as weeds and tender grass,
as short-lived as the grass that grows on the rooftop
and is scorched before the east wind. # 37:27 As translated from the Dead Sea scroll 1QIsaa.
28I know where you live, every movement you make,
all that you do, and your rage against me.
29I have heard your arrogant words,
and because you rage against me,
I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return by the way you came.
30“ ‘Hezekiah, this will be a sign for you: This year you will eat only grain that grows of itself. Next year you will eat what comes of that. Then, in the third year, life will be normal again. You will sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31Judah’s remnant will flourish again, sending deep roots into the ground and bearing luscious fruit above, 32for a remnant will go out from Mount Zion and Jerusalem. The fiery passion of Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, will accomplish this!
33“ ‘Therefore, here is what I, Yahweh, have to say about the king of Assyria: He will neither enter this city, nor shoot even one arrow here, nor raise a warrior’s shield, nor build a siege ramp against Jerusalem. 34I declare that by the way he came, by that same way he will leave. He will not set foot in the city. 35I promise to defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and for the sake of David, my loving servant.’ ”
God’s Miraculous Deliverance
36That night the angel of Yahweh came into the Assyrian camp and slaughtered 185,000 soldiers. When morning dawned, there were only dead bodies in the enemy’s camp! 37Sennacherib, the great king of Assyria, left, returning the same way he came, and retreated to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. 38Then one day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god, Nisroch, his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, entered the temple and killed him with swords. They escaped into the land of Ararat and the king’s son Esar-haddon succeeded him. # 37:38 See 2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chron. 32:21–22.
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Isaiah 37: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationIsaiah 37
37
Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance
(2 Kings 19:1–7)
1On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz 3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter
(2 Kings 19:8–13)
8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush:#37:9 That is, the upper Nile region “He has set out to fight against you.”
On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:
‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction.#37:11 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. Will you then be spared? 12Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? 13Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
(2 Kings 19:14–19)
14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16“O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
18Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. 19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
20And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.#37:20 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:19); MT You alone are the Lord”
Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied
(2 Kings 19:20–34)
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:
‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises you and mocks you;
the Daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head behind you.
23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,
and you have said:
“With my many chariots
I have ascended
to the heights of the mountains,
to the remote peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the finest of its cypresses.#37:24 Or pines or junipers or firs
I have reached its farthest heights,
the densest of its forests.
25I have dug wells
and drunk foreign #37:25 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:24); MT does not include foreign. waters.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
26Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it;
in days of old I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
that you should crush fortified cities
into piles of rubble.
27Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,
are dismayed and ashamed.
They are like plants in the field,
tender green shoots,
grass on the rooftops,
scorched #37:27 DSS, some MT manuscripts, and some LXX manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most MT manuscripts on the rooftops and terraced fields before it is grown.
28But I know your sitting down,
your going out and coming in,
and your raging against Me.
29Because your rage and arrogance against Me
have reached My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose
and My bit in your mouth;
I will send you back
the way you came.’
30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:
This year you will eat
what grows on its own,
and in the second year
what springs from the same.
But in the third year you will sow and reap;
you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah
will again take root below
and bear fruit above.
32For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,
and survivors from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts
will accomplish this.
33So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow into it.
He will not come before it with a shield
or build up a siege ramp against it.
34He will go back the way he came,
and he will not enter this city,’
declares the Lord.
35‘I will defend this city
and save it
for My own sake
and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians
(2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up #37:36 Hebrew When they got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.