Isa 36:2-38:8 | NASB1995 | STEP | And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army . And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field .

Isaiah 36:2-22

2 And the ^aking of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the ^bconduit of the upper pool on the highway of the ^{▼▼ I.e. launderer’s}fuller’s field. 3 Then ^dEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^eShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

4 Then ^fRabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you ^{▼▼ Lit trust}have? 5 “I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only ^{▼▼ Lit words of lips}empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that ⁱyou have rebelled against me? 6 “Behold, you rely on the ^jstaff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^{▼▼ Lit palm}hand and pierce it. ^lSo is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^mwhose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 “Now therefore, ^{▼▼ Lit please exchange pledges}come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 “How then can you ^{▼▼ Lit turn away the face of}repulse one ^{▼▼ Or governor}official of the least of my master’s servants and ^{▼▼ Lit rely on for yourself
,} ^rrely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 “Have I now come up ^{▼▼ Lit without the Lord}without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? ^tThe Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in ^uAramaic, for we ^{▼▼ Lit hear}understand it; and do not speak with us in ^{▼▼ I.e. Hebrew
,} ^xJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

13 Then Rabshakeh stood and ^ycried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah ^zdeceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you ^aatrust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘ ^{▼▼ Lit Make with me a blessing}Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his ^acvine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the ^adwaters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 ‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, ^ae“The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ‘Where are the gods of ^afHamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^agSepharvaim? And when have they ^ahdelivered Samaria from my hand? 20 ‘Who among all the ^aigods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the ^ajLord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

21 But they were silent and ^akanswered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then ^alEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^amShebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 And ^anwhen King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent ^aoEliakim who was over the household with ^apShebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^aqIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^arday of distress, rebuke and rejection; for ^aschildren 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 ^aureproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^avthe 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, ^aw“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 ^axhear a rumor and ^ayreturn 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 ^azLibnah, for he had heard that ^{▼▼ Lit he}the king had left ^bbLachish. 9 When he ^bcheard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ^{▼▼ Or Ethiopia
,} ^beCush, “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, ‘ ^bgDo 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 ‘ ^bhBehold, 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 ^bkGozan and ^blHaran 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, ^bowho is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^bpGod, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^bqYou have made heaven and earth. 17 ^br“Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and ^bslisten to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^btreproach the living God. 18 “Truly, O Lord, the ^bukings 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 ^bvwork of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have ^bwdestroyed them. 20 “Now, O Lord our God, ^bxdeliver us from his hand that ^byall 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 ^caIsaiah 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 ^cbvirgin ^ccdaughter of Zion;
She has ^cdshaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
23 “Whom have you ^cereproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And ^{▼▼ Lit on high}haughtily ^cglifted up your eyes?
Against the ^chHoly 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 ^ciLebanon;
And I cut down its tall ^cjcedars and its choice cypresses.
And I will go to its ^{▼▼ Lit farthest height}highest peak, its thickest ^clforest.
25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And ^cmwith the sole of my feet I dried up
All the rivers of ^{▼▼ Or the besieged place}Egypt.’
26 ^co“Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I ^cpplanned it.
Now ^cqI have brought it to pass,
That ^cryou should turn fortified cities into ^csruinous heaps.
27 “Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the ^ctvegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As ^cugrass 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 ^cwknow 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
,} ^cyarrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My ^czhook in your nose
And My ^dabridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back ^dbby the way which you came.

30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: ^{▼▼ Lit eating}you will eat this year what ^ddgrows 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 ^desurviving ^dfremnant of the house of Judah will again ^dgtake root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 “For out of Jerusalem will go forth a ^dhremnant and out of Mount Zion ^{▼▼ Lit those who escape}survivors. The ^djzeal 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 ^dksiege ramp against it. 34 ‘ ^dlBy 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 ^dmdefend this city to save it ^dnfor My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36 Then the ^doangel 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 ^dsNineveh. 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 ^dtArarat. And ^duEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Isaiah 38:1-8

Hezekiah Healed

1 ^dvIn those days Hezekiah became ^{▼▼ Lit sick to the point of death}mortally ill. And ^dxIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘ ^dySet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, ^dz“Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have ^eawalked before You in truth and with a ^ebwhole heart, and ^echave done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah ^edwept ^{▼▼ Lit great weeping}bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add ^effifteen years to your ^{▼▼ Lit days}life. 6 “I will ^ehdeliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’

7 “This shall be the ^eisign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: 8 “Behold, I will ^ejcause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the ^eksun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.