Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 *For ver. 1-38, see 2 Kgs. 19As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet *See ch. 1:1Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a *[ch. 22:5] day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; *[ch. 13:8;Hos. 13:13]children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 *[ver. 28, 29] It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for *ch. 1:9the remnant that is left.’"

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, *[ch. 19:14] I will put a spirit in him, so that *ver. 9he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and *ver. 38I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’"

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against *Josh. 10:31Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left *Josh. 10:31Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of *ch. 18:1,2;20:5Cush,*37:9 Probably Nubia "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 "Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: *[ch. 36:14]‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 *ch. 36:18,19Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, *2 Kgs. 17:6Gozan, *Gen. 11:31,32Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 *[See ver. 12above]Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’"

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 "O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, *Ex. 25:22;Ezek. 10:1enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; *Acts 4:24;[Jer. 10:11]you have made the heavens and the earth. 17 *[2 Chr. 6:40] Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear *2 Chr. 32:19all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, *[ch. 10:13,14]the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord."

Sennacherib’s Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

"‘She despises you, she scorns you—

*[Mic. 4:13]; See ch. 1:8the virgin daughter of Zion;

she wags her head behind you—

the daughter of Jerusalem.

23 "‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes to the heights?

Against *ch. 10:17the Holy One of Israel!

24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,

and you have said, *[ch. 8:7,8] With my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon,

*[ch. 14:8]to cut down its tallest cedars,

its choicest cypresses,

to come to its remotest height,

its most fruitful forest.

25 I dug wells

and drank waters,

to dry up with the sole of my foot

all *[ch. 19:6] the streams *[ch. 20:4]of Egypt.

26 *[ch. 10:5,15;25:1,2]"‘Have you not heard

that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

what now I bring to pass,

that you should make fortified cities

crash into heaps of ruins,

27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

are dismayed and confounded,

and have become like plants of the field

and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

blighted*37:27 Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field before it is grown.

28 "‘I know your sitting down

and your going out and coming in,

and your raging against me.

29 *[ch. 10:12] Because you have raged against me

and your complacency has come to my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and *ver. 34I will turn you back on the way

by which you came.’

30 "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah *ch. 27:6shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 *[ch. 14:32] For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. *See ch. 9:7The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

33 "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or *[Hab. 1:10;Luke 19:43]cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 *ch. 31:5;38:6For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for *[ch. 29:1]the sake of my servant David."

36 *ch. 17:14;30:31;31:8;[ch. 10:33;14:25;29:5]And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at *Gen. 10:11;Jonah 1:2;3:3;4:11Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of *Gen. 8:4Ararat, *Ezra 4:2Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.