Isaiah 37:3-37

3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a 1day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for 2children have come to birth, and there is no strength to 3deliver. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to 4reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for 5the 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, “6Do 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 7hear a rumor and 8return 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 9Libnah, for he had heard that 10the king had left 11Lachish. 9When he 12heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of 1314Cush, “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 15Judah, ‘16Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 1117Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be 18spared? 12Did the gods of 19those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even 20Gozan and 21Haran 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?’”

14Then Hezekiah took the 22letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and 23spread it out before the Lord. 15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16“O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 24who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the 25God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. 26You have made heaven and earth. 1727Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and 28listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to 29reproach the living God. 18Truly, O Lord, the 30kings 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 31work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have 32destroyed them. 20Now, O Lord our God, 33deliver us from his hand that 34all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, 35are God.”

21Then 36Isaiah 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 37virgin 38daughter of Zion; She has 39shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem!23Whom have you 40reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And 41haughtily 42lifted up your eyes? Against the 43Holy 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 44Lebanon; And I cut down its tall 45cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its 46highest peak, its thickest 47forest.25I dug wells and drank waters, And 48with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of 49Egypt.’2650Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I 51planned it. Now 52I have brought it to pass, That 53you should turn fortified cities into 54ruinous heaps.27Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the 55vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As 56grass on the housetops 57is scorched before it is grown up.28But I 58know 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 5960arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My 61hook in your nose And My 62bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back 63by the way which you came.

30“Then this shall be the sign for you: 64you will eat this year what 65grows 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 66surviving 67remnant of the house of Judah will again 68take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem will go forth a 69remnant and out of Mount Zion 70survivors. The 71zeal 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 72siege ramp against it. 3473By 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 74defend this city to save it 75for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

36Then the 76angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when 77men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were 78dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and 79returned home and lived at 80Nineveh.