Isa 36:2-38:8 | NASB2020 | 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 road to 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 road to 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 secretary, went out to him.

4 And ^fRabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only ^{▼▼Lit a word of lips}empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that ^hyou have revolted against me? 6 Behold, you have relied on the ⁱstaff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^{▼▼Lit palm}hand and pierce it. ^kSo 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 ^lwhose 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 then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9 How then can you ^{▼▼Lit turn away the face of}drive back even one ^{▼▼Or governor}official of the least of my master’s servants and ^{▼▼Lit rely on for yourself
,} ^prely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 And have I now come up ^{▼▼Lit without the Lord}without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? ^rThe Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^sAramaic, for we ^{▼▼Lit hear}understand it; and do not speak to us in ^{▼▼I.e., Hebrew
,} ^vJudean ^{▼▼Lit in the ears of...wall}so that the people who are on the wall hear you.” 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 ^xcalled out with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah ^ydeceive you, for he will not be able to save you; 15 and do not let Hezekiah lead you to ^zrely on the Lord, saying, “The Lord will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘ ^{▼▼Lit Make with me a blessing}Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his ^abvine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the ^acwaters 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, “ ^adThe Lord will save us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of ^aeHamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^afSepharvaim? And when have they ^agsaved Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the ^ahgods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the ^aiLord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’”

21 But they were silent and did not ^ajanswer him so much as a word; for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then ^akEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^alShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 Now ^amwhen King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent ^anEliakim, who was in charge of the household, with ^aoShebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^apIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a ^aqday of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for ^archildren 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 ^attaunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^authe 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: “ ^avDo 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 ^awhear news and ^axreturn 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 ^ayLibnah, for he had heard that ^{▼▼Lit he}the king had left ^baLachish. 9 Now he ^bbheard them say regarding Tirhakah king of ^{▼▼Or Ethiopia
,} ^bdCush, “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: ‘ ^bfDo not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11 ^bgBehold, 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: ^bhGozan, ^biHaran, 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, ^blwho is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^bmGod, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^bnYou made heaven and earth. 17 ^boIncline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and ^bplisten to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^bqtaunt the living God. 18 Truly, Lord, the ^brkings 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 ^bswork of human hands, wood and stone. So they have ^btdestroyed them. 20 But now Lord, our God, ^busave us from his hand, so that ^bvall 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 ^bxIsaiah 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 ^byvirgin ^bzdaughter of Zion;
The daughter of Jerusalem has ^cashaken her head behind you!
23 “Whom have you ^cbtaunted and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And ^{▼▼Lit on high}haughtily ^cdraised your eyes?
Against the ^ceHoly 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 ^cfLebanon;
And I cut down its tall ^cgcedars and its choice junipers.
And I will come to its ^{▼▼Lit farthest height}highest peak, its thickest ^ciforest.
25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And ^cjwith the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals of ^{▼▼Or the besieged place}Egypt.’
26 “ ^clHave you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I ^cmplanned it.
Now ^cnI have brought it about
That ^coyou would turn fortified cities into ^cpruined heaps.
27 “Therefore their inhabitants were ^{▼▼Lit short of hand}powerless,
They were shattered and put to shame;
They were like the ^crvegetation of the field and the green grass,
Like ^csgrass 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 ^cuknow your sitting down,
Your going out, your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
29 “Because of your raging against Me
And because your ^cvcomplacency has come up to My ears,
I will put My ^cwhook in your nose
And My ^cxbridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back ^cyby the way that you came.
30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: ^{▼▼Lit eating}you will eat this year what ^dagrows 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 ^dbsurvivors that are ^dcleft of the house of Judah will again ^ddtake root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem a ^deremnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The ^dfzeal 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 ^dgassault ramp against it. 34 ^dhBy 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 ^diprotect this city to save it ^djfor My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

36 Then the ^dkangel 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 ^doNineveh. 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 ^dpArarat. And his son ^dqEsarhaddon became king in his place.

Isaiah 38:1-8

Hezekiah Healed

1 ^drIn those days Hezekiah became ^{▼▼Lit sick to death}mortally ill. And ^dtIsaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘ ^duSet your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “ ^dvPlease, Lord, just remember how I have ^dwwalked before You ^dxwholeheartedly and in truth, and ^dyhave done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah ^dzwept ^{▼▼Lit great weeping}profusely.

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

7 “And this shall be the ^eesign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform this word that He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will ^efmake the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So the ^egsun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.