Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1And 1when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent 2Eliakim who was over the household with 3Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to 4Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a 5day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for 6children have come to birth, and there is no strength to 7deliver. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to 8reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for 9the remnant that is left.’”

5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “10Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will 11hear a rumor and 12return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against 13Libnah, for he had heard that 14the king had left 15Lachish. 9When he 16heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of 1718Cush, “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 19Judah, ‘20Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 1121Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be 22spared? 12Did the gods of 23those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even 24Gozan and 25Haran and 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, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

14Then Hezekiah took the 26letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and 27spread it out before the Lord. 15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16“O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 28who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the 29God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. 30You have made heaven and earth. 1731Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and 32listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to 33reproach the living God. 18Truly, O Lord, the 34kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the 35work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have 36destroyed them. 20Now, O Lord our God, 37deliver us from his hand that 38all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, 39are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

21Then 40Isaiah 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, 22this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you, The 41virgin 42daughter of Zion; She has 43shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem!23Whom have you 44reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And 45haughtily 46lifted up your eyes? Against the 47Holy One of Israel!24Through 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 48Lebanon; And I cut down its tall 49cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its 50highest peak, its thickest 51forest.25I dug wells and drank waters, And 52with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of 53Egypt.’2654Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I 55planned it. Now 56I have brought it to pass, That 57you should turn fortified cities into 58ruinous heaps.27Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the 59vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As 60grass on the housetops 61is scorched before it is grown up.28But I 62know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me.29Because of your raging against Me And because your 6364arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My 65hook in your nose And My 66bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back 67by the way which you came.

30“Then this shall be the sign for you: 68you will eat this year what 69grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31The 70surviving 71remnant of the house of Judah will again 72take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem will go forth a 73remnant and out of Mount Zion 74survivors. The 75zeal 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 76siege ramp against it. 3477By 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 78defend this city to save it 79for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36Then the 80angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when 81men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were 82dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and 83returned home and lived at 84Nineveh. 38It 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 85Ararat. And 86Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.