Isaias (Isaiah) 37
37
1AND it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
2And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.
3And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation and of rebuke and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
5And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias,
6And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.
7Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message: and shall return to his own country: and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.
8And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.
9And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:
10Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.
11Behold, thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians hare done to all countries which they have destroyed: and canst thou be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam and Haram and Reseph and the children of Eden that were in Thalassar?
13Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?
14And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord: and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.
15And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:
16O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest upon the cherubims: thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
17Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.
18For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste lands, and their countries.
19And they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces.
20And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that thou only art the Lord.
21And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:
22This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin, the daughter of Sion, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.
23Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will out down its tall cedars and its choice fir-trees, and will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel.
25I have digged, and drunk water: and have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers shut up in banks.
26Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? From the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pass that hills fighting together and fenced cities should be destroyed.
27The inhabitants of them were weak of hand: they trembled and were confounded. They became like the grass of the field and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe.
28I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
29When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose and a bit between thy lips: and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits; but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
31And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda and which is left shall take root downward and shall bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from mount Sion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
33Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.
34By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord.
35And I will protect this city and will save it for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.
36And the angel of the Lord went out, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, they were all dead corpses.
37And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed; and returned and dwelt in Ninive.
38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword. And they fled into the land of Ararat: and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Currently Selected:
Isaias (Isaiah) 37: DRC1752
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff,#37:4 Or the rabshakeh; also in 37:8. sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”
5After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, 6the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. 7Listen! I myself will move against him,#37:7 Hebrew I will put a spirit in him. and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
8Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia#37:9 Hebrew of Cush. was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10“This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 11You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 12Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 13What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 16“O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 19And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 20Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.#37:20 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 19:19); Masoretic Text reads you alone are the Lord.”
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22the Lord has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee.
23“Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel!
24By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
and explored its deepest forests.
25I have dug wells in many foreign lands#37:25 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 19:24); Masoretic Text lacks in many foreign lands.
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot,
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
26“But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
27That is why their people have so little power
and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
scorched#37:27 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and some Greek manuscripts (see also 2 Kgs 19:26); most Hebrew manuscripts read like a terraced field. before it can grow lush and tall.
28“But I know you well—
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me.
29And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.”
30Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
and next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
31And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
and grow up and flourish.
32For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
33“And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with their shields
nor build banks of earth against its walls.
34The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
35‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.’”
36That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians#37:36 Hebrew When they. woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
38One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT: