Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, # 2Kg 19:1-34 he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, # Gn 37:34; 2Sm 3:31; 1Kg 21:27; Is 3:24 and went to the Lord’s temple. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, # Is 22:5; 26:16; 33:2; Nah 1:7; Hab 3:16 for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. # Is 26:17-18; 66:9; Hs 13:13 4Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, # Dt 5:26; 1Sm 17:26,36; Jr 10:10 and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ” # Is 1:9; 46:3
5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid # Is 7:4; 35:4 because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with. # Ps 44:7,13-16; Is 52:5; Rm 2:24 7I am about to put a spirit # Nm 5:14; Is 19:14; Hs 4:12; Zch 13:2; 2Tm 1:7 in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ” # Is 37:36-38
Sennacherib’s Letter
8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, # Jos 10:31-32 he returned and found him fighting against Libnah. # Nm 33:20; Jos 10:29 9The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: # Is 18:1; 20:5 “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you # Is 36:14-15 by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? 12Did the gods of the nations # Is 36:18 that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, # 2Kg 17:6; 18:11 Haran, # Gn 11:31; 12:1-4; Ac 7:2 Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’ ”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. # Dt 22:17; 1Kg 8:22; Ezk 2:10 15Then Hezekiah prayed # 2Ch 32:20 to the Lord:
16Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, # Ex 25:22; Nm 7:89; 1Sm 4:4; 2Sm 6:2; Ps 80:1; 99:1 You are God # Dt 10:17; 2Sm 7:28; Ps 86:10; 90:2; 136:2-3 — You alone # 1Kg 8:39; Neh 9:6; Ps 4:8; 83:18; 86:10; Rv 15:4 — of all the kingdoms of the earth. # 2Ch 36:20; Ps 68:32; Rv 11:15 You made the heavens and the earth. # Ex 20:11; Neh 9:6; Ps 146:6; Ac 4:24 17Listen closely, Lord, and hear; # 2Ch 6:40; Ps 17:6; Dn 9:18 open Your eyes, Lord, and see. # Is 42:5; 45:12; Jr 10:12 Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. # Is 37:4 18Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. 19They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods # Dt 32:17; 2Ch 13:9; Jr 2:11; 5:7; 16:20; Hs 8:6; Ac 19:26; Gl 4:8 but made by human hands # Is 2:8,20; 17:8; 31:7; 41:24,29; 44:9-20; 46:6 — wood and stone. # Dt 4:28; 28:36,64; 29:17; Ezk 20:32 So they have destroyed them. 20Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord # Jos 4:24; 1Kg 8:60; 20:13; Is 45:3,6 — You alone. # Is 37:16
God’s Answer through Hezekiah
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion # Is 1:8; 3:16-17; 4:4; 52:2; 62:11; Lm 2:13
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head # Ps 22:7; 109:25; Jb 16:4; Jr 18:16; Lm 2:15
behind your back. # Lit behind you
23Who is it you have mocked # Ps 74:10,18; Is 37:4; Gl 6:7 and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride? # Is 2:11; 5:15,21
Against the Holy One of Israel! # Gn 12:3; Ex 23:22
24You have mocked the Lord through # Lit by the hand of your servants.
You have said, “With my many chariots # Ex 14:26-28; 15:4,19; Dt 20:1; Jos 11:4-9; 2Ch 16:8; Ps 68:17
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its distant heights,
its densest forest.
25I dug wells # DSS add in foreign lands and drank water.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.” # Dt 11:10; 1Kg 20:10
26Have you not heard? # Is 40:21,28
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by. # Is 5:19; 10:5-6; 14:24-26; 22:11; 46:11; Jr 18:11; Ac 2:23; 4:27-28; 1Pt 2:8
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities # Is 34:13
into piles of rubble.
27Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind. # DSS; MT reads rooftops, field before standing grain
28But I know # DSS read know your rising up and your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in, # Ps 139:1
and your raging against Me.
29Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance have reached My ears, # Is 10:12
I will put My hook in your nose # Ezk 19:9; 29:4; 38:4
and My bit in your mouth; # Is 30:28
I will make you go back
the way you came.
30“ ‘This will be the sign for you: # Ex 3:12; 1Sm 2:34; 1Kg 13:3; Is 7:14; 38:7; Jr 44:29; Lk 2:12 This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root # Is 27:6 downward and bear fruit upward. 32For a remnant # Ezr 9:14; Is 10:20-22 will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’ # 2Kg 19:31; Is 9:7; 59:17; Jl 2:18; Zch 1:14
33“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.
34He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
35I will defend this city and rescue it
because of Me # Is 43:25; 48:9,11
and because of My servant David.” # 1Kg 11:13,32-38; 2Kg 20:6; Ezk 34:23
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36Then # 2Kg 19:35-37; 2Ch 32:21 the angel of the Lord # Gn 16:7-11; Ex 3:2; Nm 22:22-35; Jdg 6:11-12; 2Sm 24:16; Ps 34:7 went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies! 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh. # Gn 10:11; Jnh 1:2; 3:3; 4:11; Zph 2:13
38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. # Gn 8:4; Jr 51:27 Then his son Esar-haddon # Ezr 4:2 became king in his place.
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Isaiah 37: HCSB
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Yeshayah (Isaiah) 37
37
1And it came to be, when Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of יהוה,
2and sent Elyaqim, who was over the household, and Sheḇnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, to Yeshayahu the prophet, the son of Amots.
3And they said to him, “Thus said Ḥizqiyahu, ‘This day is a day of distress and rebuke and scorn, for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring forth.
4It could be that יהוה your Elohim does hear the words of the Raḇshaqĕh, whom his master the sovereign of Ashshur has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and shall rebuke the words which יהוה your Elohim has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5So the servants of Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu came to Yeshayahu,
6and Yeshayahu said to them, “Say this to your master, ‘Thus said יהוה, “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the sovereign of Ashshur have reviled Me.
7“See, I am putting a spirit in him, and he shall hear a report and return to his own land. And I shall cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
8And the Raḇshaqĕh returned and found the sovereign of Ashshur fighting against Liḇnah, for he had heard that he had left Laḵish.
9And he heard concerning Tirhaqah sovereign of Kush, “He has come out to fight with you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ḥizqiyahu, saying,
10“Speak to Ḥizqiyahu the sovereign of Yehuḏah, saying, ‘Do not let your Elohim in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Yerushalayim is not given into the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur.”
11See, you have heard what the sovereigns of Ashshur have done to all lands by putting them under the ban. And are you going to be delivered?
12Have the mighty ones of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Ḥaran and Retseph, and the sons of Ěḏen who were in Telassar?
13Where is the sovereign of Ḥamath, and the sovereign of Arpaḏ, and the sovereign of the city of Sepharwayim, Hĕna, and Iwwah?’ ”
14And Ḥizqiyahu received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And Ḥizqiyahu went up to the House of יהוה, and spread it before יהוה.
15And Ḥizqiyahu prayed to יהוה, saying,
16“O יהוה of hosts, Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, the One who dwells between the keruḇim, You are Elohim, You alone, of all the reigns of the earth. You have made the heavens and earth.
17“Incline Your ear, O יהוה, and hear. Open Your eyes, O יהוה, and see. And hear all the words of Sanḥĕriḇ, who has sent to reproach the living Elohim.
18“Truly, יהוה, the sovereigns of Ashshur have laid waste all the lands, and their land,
19and have put their mighty ones into the fire, for they were not mighty ones, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. And they destroyed them.
20“And now, O יהוה our Elohim, save us from his hand, so that all the reigns of the earth know that You are יהוה, You alone.”
21Then Yeshayahu son of Amots sent to Ḥizqiyahu, saying, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sanḥĕriḇ sovereign of Ashshur,
22this is the word which יהוה has spoken concerning him, “The maiden, the daughter of Tsiyon, has despised you, mocked you; the daughter of Yerushalayim has shaken her head behind you!
23“Whom have you reproached and reviled? And against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes in pride? Against the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl!
24“By the hand of your servants you have reproached יהוה, and said, ‘With my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the limits of Leḇanon. And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. And I enter its farthest height, its thickest forest.
25I have dug and drunk water, and with the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of defence.’
26“Have you not heard long ago how I made it, from days of old, that I formed it? Now I have brought it about, that you should be for crushing walled cities into heaps of ruins.
27“And their inhabitants were powerless, they were overthrown and put to shame. They were as the grass of the field and as the green plant, as the grass on the house-tops and as grain blighted before it is grown.
28“But I know your sitting down, and your going out and your coming in, and your rage against Me.
29“Because your rage against Me and your pride have come up to My ears, I shall put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I shall turn you back by the way which you came.
30“And this shall be the sign for you: This year you eat such as grows of itself, and the second year what springs from that, and in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
31“And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Yehuḏah shall again take root downward, and be fruitful upward.
32“For out of Yerushalayim comes forth a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Tsiyon – the ardour of יהוה of hosts does this.
33“Therefore thus said יהוה concerning the sovereign of Ashshur, ‘He does not come into this city, nor does he shoot an arrow there, nor does he come before it with shield, nor does he build a siege mound against it.
34By the way that he came, by the same he turns back. And into this city he does not come,’ declares יהוה.
35And I shall defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant Dawiḏ.’ ”
36And a messenger of יהוה went out, and struck in the camp of Ashshur one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose early in the morning, and saw all of them, dead bodies.
37And Sanḥĕriḇ the sovereign of Ashshur broke camp and went away, and turned back, and remained at Ninewĕh.
38And it came to be, as he was bowing himself in the house of Nisroḵ his mighty one, that his sons Aḏrammeleḵ and Shar’etser struck him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Ěsarḥaddon reigned in his place.
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