Isaiah 37
37
1When Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the Lord's Temple. 2He sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna, the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to see the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. 3They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble and of punishment. It's like when babies arrive at the entrance to the birth canal but there's no strength to deliver them. 4Maybe the Lord your God, hearing the message the army commander delivered on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria—a message sent to insult the living God—will punish him for his words. Please say a prayer for the remnant of us who still survive.”
5After Hezekiah's officials delivered his message to Isaiah, 6Isaiah replied to them, “Tell your master, This is what the Lord says: Don't be frightened by the words that you have heard, the words used by the servants of the king of Assyria to blaspheme me. 7Look, I'm going to scare him—he'll hear a rumor, and he'll have to return to his own country. When he's there I'll have him killed by the sword.”
8The Assyrian army commander left and went back to join the king of Assyria, having heard the king had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9Sennacherib had received a message about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that said, “Watch out! He is coming to attack you.” So Sennacherib sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Don't let your God, the one you're trusting in, fool you by saying that Jerusalem won't fall into the hands of the king of Assyria. 11Look! You've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries they've invaded#37:11. “They've invaded”: implied.— they destroyed them completely! Do you really think you'll be saved? 12Did the gods of the nations my forefathers destroyed save them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar? 13Where today is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the Lord's Temple and opened it out before the Lord. 15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, 16“Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you who live above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth, you are Creator of heaven and earth. 17Please listen with your ears, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
18Yes, it's true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed these nations and their lands. 19They have thrown their gods into the fire because they are not really gods—they are just the work of human hands, made of wood and stone so they could destroy them. 20Now, Lord our God, please save us from him, in order that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that only you, Lord, are God.”
21Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you've prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 22this is the word of the Lord condemning him: The virgin daughter of Zion scorns you and mocks you; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head as you run away. 23Who have you been insulting and ridiculing? Who did you raise your voice against? Who did you look at with so proud eyes? It was against the Holy One of Israel! 24By your servants you have mocked the Lord. You said: ‘With my many chariots I have ascended to the high mountains, to the farthest peaks of Lebanon. I have chopped down its tallest cedars, the best of its cypress trees. I have reached its most distant heights, its deepest forests. 25I have dug wells and drunk water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers in Egypt.’”
26The Lord replies,#37:26. “The Lord replies”: supplied for clarity. “Haven't you heard? I decided it long ago; I planned it in the olden days. Now I am making sure it happens—that you are to knock down fortified towns into piles of rubble. 27Their people, powerless, are terrified and humiliated. They're like plants in a field, like soft green shoots, like grass that sprouts on the rooftop—scorched before it can even grow.
28But I know you very well—where you live, when you come in, when you leave, and your furious anger against me. 29Because of your furious anger against me, and because I know how you disrespect me, I'm going to put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will force you to return the same way you came.
30Hezekiah, this will be a sign to prove this is true:#37:30. “To prove this is true”: implied. This year you'll eat what grows by itself. The second year you'll eat what grows from that. But in the third year you'll sow and reap, you'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31The remnant that's left of Judah will revive again, sending roots below and bearing fruit above. 32For a remnant will come out of Jerusalem, and survivors will come from Mount Zion. The intense determination of the Lord will make sure this happens. 33This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city or shoot an arrow at it. He shall not advance towards it with a shield, or build a siege ramp against it. 34He shall return the same way he came, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord. 35I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
36Then the angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 of them. When the survivors woke up in the morning, they were surrounded by dead bodies. 37Sennacherib, king of Assyria, gave up and left. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there. 38While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword and then ran away to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him as king.
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Isaiah 37: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 37
37
Isaiah Assures Deliverance
1And #2 Kin. 19:1–37; Is. 37:1–38so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of #Is. 22:5; 26:16; 33:2trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to #Is. 36:15, 18, 20reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer
8Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 12Have the #Is. 36:18, 19gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of #Is. 49:23Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You #Is. 43:10, 11alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17#2 Chr. 6:40; Ps. 17:6; Dan. 9:18Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and #Ps. 74:22hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 18Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their #2 Kin. 15:29; 16:9; 17:6, 24; 1 Chr. 5:26lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were #Is. 40:19, 20not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 20Now therefore, O Lord our God, #Is. 33:22save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may #Ps. 83:18know that You are the Lord, You alone.”
The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shaken her head behind your back!
23“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
24By your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter its farthest height,
To its fruitful forest.
25I have dug and drunk water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of defense.’
26“Did you not hear #Is. 25:1; 40:21; 45:21long ago
How I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27Therefore their inhabitants had little power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field
And the green herb,
As the grass on the housetops
And grain blighted before it is grown.
28“But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
29Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore #2 Kin. 19:35–37; 2 Chr. 32:21; Is. 30:28; Ezek. 38:4I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will #Ezek. 38:4; 39:2turn you back
By the way which you came.” ’
30“This shall be a sign to you:
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
31And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
The #2 Kin. 19:31; Is. 9:7; 59:17; Joel 2:18; Zech. 1:14zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
34By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says the Lord.
35‘For I will #2 Kin. 20:6; Is. 31:5; 38:6defend this city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant #1 Kin. 11:13David’s sake.’ ”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
36Then the #2 Kin. 19:35; Is. 10:12, 33, 34angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 38Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then #Ezra 4:2Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.