Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah and Isaiah
1When King Hezekiah heard this, he ripped his clothes, covered himself with mourning clothes, and went to the LORD’s temple. 2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son. They were all wearing mourning clothes. 3They said to him, “Hezekiah says this: Today is a day of distress, punishment, and humiliation. It’s as if children are ready to be born, but there’s no strength to see it through. 4Perhaps the LORD your God heard all the words of the field commander who was sent by his master, Assyria’s king. He insulted the living God! Perhaps he will punish him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Offer up a prayer for those few people who still survive.”
5When King Hezekiah’s servants got to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “Say this to your master: The LORD says this: Don’t be afraid at the words you heard, which the officers of Assyria’s king have used to insult me. 7I’m about to mislead him, so when he hears a rumor, he’ll go back to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.”
8The field commander heard that the Assyrian king had left Lachish. So he went back to the king and found him attacking Libnah. 9Then the Assyrian king learned that Cush’s King Tirhakah was on his way to fight against him. So he sent messengers to Hezekiah again: 10“Say this to Judah’s King Hezekiah: Don’t let the God you trust deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem won’t fall to the Assyrian king.’ 11You yourself have heard what Assyrian kings do to other countries, wiping them out. Is it likely that you will be saved? 12Did the gods of the nations that my ancestors destroyed save them, the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the people of Eden in Telassar? 13Where now is Hamath’s king, Arpad’s king, or the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?”#37.13 Or the king of the city of Sepharvaim; or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah
Hezekiah prays
14Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers and read them. Then he went to the temple and spread them out before the LORD. 15Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
16“LORD of heavenly forces, God of Israel: you sit enthroned on the winged creatures. You alone are God over all the earth’s kingdoms. You made both heaven and earth. 17LORD, turn your ear this way and hear! LORD, open your eyes and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words. He sent them to insult the living God! 18It’s true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed all the nations and their lands. 19The Assyrians burned the gods of those nations with fire because they aren’t real gods. They are only man-made creations of wood and stone. That’s how the Assyrians could destroy them. 20So now, LORD our God, please save us from Sennacherib’s power! Then all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you alone are LORD.”
21Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son, sent a message to Hezekiah: The LORD God of Israel says this: Since you prayed to me about Assyria’s King Sennacherib, 22this is the message that the LORD has spoken against him:
The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and mocks you;
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
23Whom did you insult and ridicule?
Against whom did you raise your voice
and look on with disdain?
It was against the holy one of Israel!
24With your servants, you’ve insulted the Lord;
you said, “I, with my many chariots,
have gone up to the highest mountains,
to the farthest reaches of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the best of its pine trees.
I have reached its most remote lodging place,
its best forest.
25I have dug wells,
have drunk water in foreign lands.#37.25 Heb uncertain; DSS (1QIsaa) in foreign lands
With my own feet, I dried up all of Egypt’s streams.”
26Haven’t you heard?
I set this up long ago;
I planned it in the distant past!
Now I have made it happen,
making fortified cities collapse into piles of rubble.
27Their citizens have lost their power;
they are frightened and dismayed.
They’ve become like plants in a field,
tender green shoots,
the grass on rooftops,
blasted by the east wind.
28I know where you are,
how you go out and come in,
and how you rage against me.
29Because you rage against me and because your pride has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you go back the same way you came.
30Now this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year, plant seed and harvest it; plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31The survivors of Judah’s family who have escaped will put down roots and bear fruit above. 32Those who remain will go out from Jerusalem, and those who survive will go out from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of heavenly forces will do this.
33Therefore, the LORD says this about Assyria’s king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow here. He won’t come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it. 34He’ll go back by the same way he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the LORD. 35I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.
36The LORD’s messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere. 37So Assyria’s King Sennacherib left and went back to Nineveh, where he stayed. 38Later, while he was worshipping 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. His son Esarhaddon ruled after him.
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Isaiah 37: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 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.