Berean Standard Bible

Isaiah 37:14-36

14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:

16“O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

18Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. 19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

20And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.1”

21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:

‘The Virgin Daughter of Ziondespises you and mocks you;the Daughter of Jerusalemshakes her head behind you.23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?Against whom have you raised your voiceand lifted your eyes in pride?Against the Holy One of Israel!

24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,and you have said:“With my many chariotsI have ascendedto the heights of the mountains,to the remote peaks of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedars,the finest of its cypresses.2I have reached its farthest heights,the densest of its forests.25I have dug wellsand drunk foreign3 waters.With the soles of my feetI have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

26Have you not heard?Long ago I ordained it;in days of old I planned it.Now I have brought it to pass,that you should crush fortified citiesinto piles of rubble.27Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,are dismayed and ashamed.They are like plants in the field,tender green shoots,grass on the rooftops,scorched4 before it is grown.

28But I know your sitting down,your going out and coming in,and your raging against Me.29Because your rage and arrogance against Mehave reached My ears,I will put My hook in your noseand My bit in your mouth;I will send you backthe way you came.’

30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:

This year you will eatwhat grows on its own,and in the second yearwhat springs from the same.But in the third year you will sow and reap;you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judahwill again take root belowand bear fruit above.32For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,and survivors from Mount Zion.The zeal of the LORD of Hostswill accomplish this.

33So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this cityor shoot an arrow into it.He will not come before it with a shieldor build up a siege ramp against it.34He will go back the way he came,and he will not enter this city,’declares the LORD.35‘I will defend this cityand save itfor My own sakeand for the sake of My servant David.’”

36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up5 the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

Read all of Isaiah 37

Notes

1. Isaiah 37:20 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:19); MT You alone are the LORD ↩
2. Isaiah 37:24 Or pines or junipers or firs ↩
3. Isaiah 37:25 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:24); MT does not include foreign. ↩
4. Isaiah 37:27 DSS, some MT manuscripts, and some LXX manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most MT manuscripts on the rooftops and terraced fields ↩
5. Isaiah 37:36 Hebrew When they got up ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Isaiah 37