Isa 37 | NASB2020 | STEP | Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes , covered himself with sackcloth , and entered the house of the Lord .

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 Now ^awhen King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent ^bEliakim, who was in charge of the household, with ^cShebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^dIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a ^eday of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for ^fchildren have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to ^{▼▼Lit give birth}deliver them. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^htaunt the living God, and will avenge 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 And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: “ ^jDo 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 am going to put a spirit in him so that he will ^khear news 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 Now he ^pheard them say regarding 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 “This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^{▼▼Lit Judah, saying}Judah: ‘ ^tDo not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11 ^uBehold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? 12 Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: ^vGozan, ^wHaran, 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 “Lord of armies, God of Israel, ^zwho is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^aaGod, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^abYou made heaven and earth. 17 ^acIncline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and ^adlisten to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^aetaunt the living God. 18 Truly, Lord, the ^afkings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, 19 and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the ^agwork of human hands, wood and stone. So they have ^ahdestroyed them. 20 But now Lord, our God, ^aisave us from his hand, so that ^ajall the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, ^{▼▼As in DSS and 2 Kin 19:19; MT are the Lord}Lord, are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

21 Then ^alIsaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘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 shown contempt for you and derided you,
The ^amvirgin ^andaughter of Zion;
The daughter of Jerusalem has ^aoshaken her head behind you!
23 “Whom have you ^aptaunted and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And ^{▼▼Lit on high}haughtily ^arraised your eyes?
Against the ^asHoly One of Israel!
24 “Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of ^atLebanon;
And I cut down its tall ^aucedars and its choice junipers.
And I will come to its ^{▼▼Lit farthest height}highest peak, its thickest ^awforest.
25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And ^axwith the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals of ^{▼▼Or the besieged place}Egypt.’
26 “ ^azHave you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I ^baplanned it.
Now ^bbI have brought it about
That ^bcyou would turn fortified cities into ^bdruined heaps.
27 “Therefore their inhabitants were ^{▼▼Lit short of hand}powerless,
They were shattered and put to shame;
They were like the ^bfvegetation of the field and the green grass,
Like ^bggrass on the housetops ^{▼▼As in DSS and 2 Kin 19:26; MT and as a terraced field}that is scorched before it has grown.
28 “But I ^biknow your sitting down,
Your going out, your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
29 “Because of your raging against Me
And because your ^bjcomplacency has come up to My ears,
I will put My ^bkhook in your nose
And My ^blbridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back ^bmby the way that you came.
30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: ^{▼▼Lit eating}you will eat this year what ^bogrows of itself, in the second year what grows from the same, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 The ^bpsurvivors that are ^bqleft of the house of Judah will again ^brtake root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem a ^bsremnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The ^btzeal of the Lord of armies will perform this.”’

33 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an ^buassault ramp against it. 34 ^bvBy 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 ^bwprotect this city to save it ^bxfor My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36 Then the ^byangel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of ^{▼▼Lit them}the 185,000 were ^{▼▼Lit dead bodies}dead. 37 So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and ^{▼▼Lit went and returned}returned home and lived in ^ccNineveh. 38 Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of ^cdArarat. And his son ^ceEsarhaddon became king in his place.