Isaiah 37
37
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
1And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple#Or “house” of Yahweh. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of#Literally “over” the palace,#Or “house” and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests covered#Literally “covering themselves” with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. 3And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the cervical opening, and there is no strength to give birth. 4Maybe Yahweh your God heard the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.’ ”
5When#Or “And” the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “You must say this to your master: ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You must not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Look! I am about to put#Literally “give” a spirit in him so that#Or “and” he shall hear a rumor and he shall return to his land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.” ’ ”
8And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left from Lachish. 9Now#Or “And” he#That is, the king heard concerning Tirhakah the king of Cush, saying, “He has set out to fight against#Or “with” you.”
When#Or “And” he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will 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 to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered? 12Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors#Literally “fathers” destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or#Or “and” Ivvah?’ ”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read#Or “called” it. Then#Or “And” he went up to the temple#Or “house” of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the presence#Literally “face” of Yahweh. 15And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, 16“Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel who is enthroned on#Literally “sitting” the cherubim, you are the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth. 17Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God! 18Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands#The parallel text in 2 Kings has “nations” and their land, 19to set#Literally “give” their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them. 20So#Or “And” now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that#Or “and” all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, you alone!”
God’s Answer
21And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning#Literally “to” Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 22this is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion;
she shakes her head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.
23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed,
and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward?
To the holy one of Israel!
24By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord,
and you have said, “With my many chariots,#Hebrew “chariot”
I myself have gone up the height of the mountains,
to the remote areas of Lebanon.
And I cut off its tall cedars,#Literally “the height of its cedars”
the choicest of its junipers.
And I came to the height of its limit,
the forest of its orchard.#Or “Carmel”
25I myself dug and drank waters,
and I caused all the streams of Egypt to dry up by the sole of my feet.”
26Have you not heard from a long time ago?#Literally “distant” I have made it
from days of primeval time, and I formed it.
Now I have brought it about,
and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones.
27And their inhabitants are weak;#Literally “short of hand”
they are dismayed, and they are ashamed;
they have become like plants#Hebrew “plant” of the field,
and like greens of grass,
like grass on#Or “of” the roofs
and a cultivated field before#Literally “before the face of” the standing grain.
28And I know your sitting down and your going out,
and your coming in, and your raging against#Literally “to” me.
29Because you were enraged against#Literally “to” me,
and your noise#Or “complacency” has come up to#Literally “in” my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bridle on your lips,
and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
30And this shall be the sign for you: the eating of volunteer plants#Hebrew “plant” this#Literally “the” year, and in the second year self-seeded plants,#Hebrew “plant” and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31And the remnant of the house of Judah that remain shall grow#Literally “add” roots#Hebrew “root” downwards and make fruit upwards.
32For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem
and survivors#Hebrew “survivor” from mountain Zion.
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’
33Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning#Or “to” the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not come to this city,
and he shall not shoot an arrow there,
and he shall not meet it with a shield,
and he shall not heap a siege ramp up against her.
34He shall return by the way that he came,
and he shall not come to this city,’
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh.
35‘And I will defend this city, to save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’ ”
Sennacherib’s Defeat
36And the angel of Yahweh set out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When#Or “And” they rose in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. 37Then#Or “And” Sennacherib king of Assyria left, went, and returned and lived at Nineveh. 38And this happened: he was bowing in worship in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.
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Isaiah 37: LEB
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Isaiah 37
37
The King Asks Isaiah's Advice
(2 Kgs 19.1–7)
1As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the LORD. 2He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth. 3This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: “Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it. 4The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the LORD your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive.”
5When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message, 6he sent back this answer: “The LORD tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you by their claims that he cannot save you. 7The LORD will cause the emperor to hear a rumour that will make him go back to his own country, and the LORD will have him killed there.”
The Assyrians Send Another Threat
(2 Kgs 19.8–19)
8The Assyrian official learnt that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him. 9Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia#37.9 Ethiopia: See Word List., was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah 10of Judah to say to him, “The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you. 11You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape? 12My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them. 13Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the LORD, 15and prayed, 16#Ex 25.22“Almighty LORD, God of Israel, enthroned above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. 17Now, LORD, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. 18We all know, LORD, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, 19and burnt up their gods — which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. 20Now, LORD our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that you alone are God.”
Isaiah's Message to the King
(2 Kgs 19.20–37)
21Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer 22the LORD had said, “The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and despises you. 23Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel. 24You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests. 25You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the River Nile dry.
26“Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble. 27The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.#37.27 Probable text when… them; Hebrew blasted before they are grown.
28“But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me. 29I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth and will take you back by the road on which you came.”
30Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, “This is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to sow your corn and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes. 31Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit. 32There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the LORD Almighty is determined to make this happen.
33“This is what the LORD has said about the Assyrian emperor: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built round it. 34He will go back by the road on which he came, without entering this city. I, the LORD, have spoken. 35I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honour and because of the promise I made to my servant David.’ ”
36An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! 37Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. 38One day when he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.