Isaiah 37
37
XXXVII
1And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said unto him: Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, and of rebuke, and of contumely: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4It may be that Jehovah, thy God, will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Jehovah, thy God, hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is yet left.
5And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said unto them: Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah: Be not afraid because of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will bring a tremour upon him; and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyriah warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah, king of Cush, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10Thus shall ye speak unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all these lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered those, whom my father have destroyed? as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Henah, and of Ivah?
14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and he went up unto the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spread it before Jehovah. 15And Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah, saying: 16O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, who dwellest between the Cherubims, Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made the heavens, and the earth. Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; 17open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God. 18In truth, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations, and their lands; 19and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 20And now, O Jehovah, our God! save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only.
21Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed unto me, concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22This is the word which Jehovah hath spoken against him:
The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, she hath laughed thee to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23Whom hast thou reproached, and blasphemed;
And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice?
And hast lifted up thine eyes on high?
Even against the Holy One of Israel.
24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said:
By the multitude of my chariots have I ascended
The height of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon;
And I will cut down his tallest cedars, his choicest fir-trees;
And I will enter into his extreme height, into the forests of his fruitful field.
25I have digged, and drunk water;
And with, the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26Hast thou not heard, that, from of old, I had disposed it?
And that, from ancient times, I had formed it?
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27Therefore were their inhabitants of small power,
They were dismayed and confounded:
They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb,
As the grass of the house-tops; and as the corn blasted before it be grown up.
28But thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, have I known;
And thy rage against me.
29Because thy rage against me, and thy insolence,
Is come up into mine ears;
Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips;
And I will turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest.
30And this shall be a sign unto thee:
Eat this year that which groweth up of itself,
And the second year that which groweth up of the same;
And in the third year sow ye, and reap,
And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31And the escaped of the house of Judah, which remain,
Shall again strike root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32For from Jerusalem shall go forth the remnant,
And they that have escaped from mount Zion:
The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.
33Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria:
He shall not come into this city,
Nor shall he shoot an arrow there;
Nor shall he present a shield before it,
Nor shall he cast up a mound against it.
34By the way through which he came, by the same shall he return;
And into this city shall he not come, saith Jehovah.
35And I will protect this city to deliver it,
For mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
36Then an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand men; and when man arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went, and returned; and dwelt at Nineveh. 38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat: and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead.
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Isaiah 37: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 37
37
1#There appear to be parallel accounts of Hezekiah’s appeal and the response received (vv. 1–7 and vv. 14–35): in each, Hezekiah goes to the Temple, refers to the Assyrian boasts (found in 36:15–20; 37:10–14), and receives a favorable response from Isaiah. When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2He sent Eliakim, the master of the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to tell the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz,
3“Thus says Hezekiah:
A day of distress and rebuke,
a day of disgrace is this day!
Children are due to come forth,
but the strength to give birth is lacking.#A proverbial expression. In the Bible the pangs of childbirth often typify extreme anguish; cf. 13:8; Jer 6:24; Mi 4:9–10. In this instance there is reference to the desperate situation of Hezekiah from which he would scarcely be able to free himself. #Is 26:18.
4Perhaps the Lord, your God, will hear the words of the commander, whom his lord, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke him for the words which the Lord, your God, has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that is here.”
5When the servants of King Hezekiah had come to Isaiah, 6he said to them: “Tell this to your lord: Thus says the Lord: Do not be frightened by the words you have heard, by which the deputies of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.#Is 7:4; 10:24.
7I am putting in him such a spirit
that when he hears a report
he will return to his land.
I will make him fall by the sword in his land.”
8When the commander, on his return, heard that the king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish, he found him besieging Libnah. 9The king of Assyria heard a report: “Tirhakah,#Tirhakah: may have been general of the Egyptian army in 701 B.C.; later he became pharaoh, one of the Ethiopian dynasty of Egyptian kings (ca. 690–664 B.C.). Many consider that this account in Isaiah combines features of two originally distinct sieges of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. king of Ethiopia, has come out to fight against you.” Again he sent messengers to Hezekiah to say: 10“Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’#Is 36:14. 11You, certainly, have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands: they put them under the ban! And are you to be delivered? 12Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? 13Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or a king of the cities Sepharvaim, Hena or Ivvah?”
14Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the house of the Lord, and spreading it out before the Lord, 15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16“Lord of hosts, God of Israel,
enthroned on the cherubim!
You alone are God
over all the kingdoms of the earth.
It is you who made
the heavens and the earth.#In contrast to the empty boasting of the Assyrians, Hezekiah proclaims the Lord as “God over all the kingdoms of the earth.”
17Incline your ear, Lord, and listen!
open your eyes, Lord, and see!
Hear all the words Sennacherib has sent
to taunt the living God.
18Truly, O Lord,
the kings of Assyria have laid waste
the nations and their lands.
19They gave their gods to the fire
—they were not gods at all,
but the work of human hands—
Wood and stone, they destroyed them.#Jer 16:20.
20Therefore, Lord, our God,
save us from this man’s power,
That all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that you alone, Lord, are God.”
21#The reversal of Isaiah’s attitude toward Hezekiah’s revolt (see note on 36:1) and a wonderful deliverance after Hezekiah had already submitted and paid tribute raise questions difficult to answer. See note on 22:1–14. Some have postulated that chaps. 36–37 combine accounts of two different Assyrian invasions. Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you have prayed concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria: I have listened! 22This is the word the Lord has spoken concerning him:#2 Kgs 19:21.
She despises you, laughs you to scorn,
the virgin daughter Zion;
Behind you she wags her head,
daughter Jerusalem.
23Whom have you insulted and blasphemed,
at whom have you raised your voice
And lifted up your eyes on high?
At the Holy One of Israel!#Is 10:12.
24Through the mouths of your messengers
you have insulted the Lord when you said:
‘With my many chariots I went up
to the tops of the peaks,
to the recesses of Lebanon,
To cut down its lofty cedars,
its choice cypresses;
I reached the farthest shelter,
the forest ranges.
25I myself dug wells
and drank foreign water;
Drying up all the rivers of Egypt
beneath the soles of my feet.’
26Have you not heard?
A long time ago I prepared it,
from days of old I planned it,
Now I have brought it about:
You are here to reduce
fortified cities to heaps of ruins,#Is 10:6, 15.
27Their people powerless,
dismayed and distraught,
They are plants of the field,
green growth,
thatch on the rooftops,
Grain scorched by the east wind.
28I know when you stand or sit,
when you come or go,
and how you rage against me.
29Because you rage against me
and your smugness has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
And make you leave by the way you came.#Is 30:28.
30This shall be a sign#A sign: sets a time limit. After two years the normal conditions of life will be resumed. See the similar use of time limits as signs in 7:15–16; 8:4; 16:14; and 21:16. You: Hezekiah. for you:
This year you shall eat the aftergrowth,
next year, what grows of itself;
But in the third year, sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit!
31The remaining survivors of the house of Judah
shall again strike root below
and bear fruit above.#Is 27:6.
32For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant,
and from Mount Zion, survivors.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.#Is 9:6.
33Therefore, thus says the Lord about the king of Assyria:
He shall not come as far as this city,
nor shoot there an arrow,
nor confront it with a shield,
Nor cast up a siege-work against it.
34By the way he came he shall leave,
never coming as far as this city,
oracle of the Lord.
35I will shield and save this city
for my own sake and the sake of David my servant.”#Is 31:5; 1 Kgs 15:4.
36Then the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all those corpses, dead!#The destruction of Sennacherib’s army is also recorded by Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century B.C. It was possibly owing to a plague, which the author interprets as God’s activity. #Is 10:12; 17:14. 37So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, departed, returned home, and stayed in Nineveh.
38When he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat.#The violent death of Sennacherib (681 B.C.) is also mentioned in non-biblical sources. It occurred twenty years after his invasion of Judah. Ararat: the land of Urartu in the mountains north of Assyria. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his place.
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