Isa 37 | NASB1995 | STEP | And when King Hezekiah heard it , he tore his clothes , covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord .

‏ Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 And ^awhen King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent ^bEliakim who was over the household with ^cShebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^dIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^eday of distress, rebuke and rejection; for ^fchildren have come to birth, and there is no strength to ^{▼▼ Lit give birth}deliver. 4 ‘Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^hreproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ⁱthe remnant that is left.’”

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^j“Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 “Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will ^khear a rumor and ^lreturn to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^mLibnah, for he had heard that ^{▼▼ Lit he}the king had left ^oLachish. 9 When he ^pheard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ^{▼▼ Or Ethiopia
,} ^rCush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^{▼▼ Lit Judah, saying}Judah, ‘ ^tDo not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 ‘ ^uBehold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be ^{▼▼ Lit delivered}spared? 12 ‘Did the gods of ^{▼▼ Lit the}those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even ^xGozan and ^yHaran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ‘Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

14 Then Hezekiah took the ^{▼▼ Lit letters}letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and ^{▼▼ Lit Hezekiah spread}spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16 “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^abwho is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^acGod, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^adYou have made heaven and earth. 17 ^ae“Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and ^aflisten to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^agreproach the living God. 18 “Truly, O Lord, the ^ahkings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the ^aiwork of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have ^ajdestroyed them. 20 “Now, O Lord our God, ^akdeliver us from his hand that ^alall the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, ^{▼▼ So DSS and 2 Kin 19:19; M.T. omits God}are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

21 Then ^anIsaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you,
The ^aovirgin ^apdaughter of Zion;
She has ^aqshaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
23 “Whom have you ^arreproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And ^{▼▼ Lit on high}haughtily ^atlifted up your eyes?
Against the ^auHoly One of Israel!
24 “Through your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of ^avLebanon;
And I cut down its tall ^awcedars and its choice cypresses.
And I will go to its ^{▼▼ Lit farthest height}highest peak, its thickest ^ayforest.
25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And ^azwith the sole of my feet I dried up
All the rivers of ^{▼▼ Or the besieged place}Egypt.’
26 ^bb“Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I ^bcplanned it.
Now ^bdI have brought it to pass,
That ^beyou should turn fortified cities into ^bfruinous heaps.
27 “Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the ^bgvegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As ^bhgrass on the housetops ^{▼▼ So DSS and 2 Kin 19:26; M.T. as a plowed field}is scorched before it is grown up.
28 “But I ^bjknow your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in
And your raging against Me.
29 “Because of your raging against Me
And because your ^{▼▼ Lit complacency
,} ^blarrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My ^bmhook in your nose
And My ^bnbridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back ^boby the way which you came.

30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: ^{▼▼ Lit eating}you will eat this year what ^bqgrows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 “The ^brsurviving ^bsremnant of the house of Judah will again ^bttake root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 “For out of Jerusalem will go forth a ^buremnant and out of Mount Zion ^{▼▼ Lit those who escape}survivors. The ^bwzeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”’

33 “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a ^bxsiege ramp against it. 34 ‘ ^byBy the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. 35 ‘For I will ^bzdefend this city to save it ^cafor My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36 Then the ^cbangel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when ^{▼▼ Lit they}men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were ^{▼▼ Lit dead bodies}dead. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and ^{▼▼ Lit went and returned}returned home and lived at ^cfNineveh. 38 It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of ^cgArarat. And ^chEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.