Isa 36-39 | ESV | STEP | In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah , Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

1 ^aIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^bSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 ^cAnd the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh ^{▼▼ Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer} from ^eLachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood ^fby the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him ^gEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^hShebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the ⁱgreat king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 ^jBehold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^kwhose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, 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 set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse ^la single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when ^myou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? ⁿThe Lord said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it."’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants ^oin Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ^p‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by 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: Make your peace with me ^{▼▼Hebrew Make a blessing with me} and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until ^rI come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ^sWhere are the gods of ^tHamath and ^uArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ^vHave they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 ^wWho among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 ^xThen Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

1 ^yAs soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet ^zIsaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^aaday of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; ^abchildren have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 ^acIt may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^adthe remnant that is left.’”

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, ^aeI will put a spirit in him, so that ^afhe shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and ^agI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^ahLibnah, for he had heard that the king had left ^aiLachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of ^ajCush, ^{▼▼Probably Nubia} “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ^al‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 ^amHave the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^anGozan, ^aoHaran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ^apWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^aqenthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^aryou have made heaven and earth. 17 ^asIncline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^atall the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, ^authe kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Sennacherib’s Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

“‘She despises you, she scorns you—
^avthe virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against ^awthe Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ^axWith my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
^ayto cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all ^azthe streams ^baof Egypt.
26 ^bb“‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts like a field} before it is grown.
28 “‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 ^bdBecause you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and ^beI will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah ^bfshall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 ^bgFor out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ^bhThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or ^bicast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 ^bjFor I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for ^bkthe sake of my servant David.”

36 ^blAnd the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ^bmNineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^bnArarat, ^boEsarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

1 ^bpIn those days Hezekiah became ^bqsick and was at the point of death. And ^brIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” ^{▼▼Or live; also verses 9, 21} 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how ^btI have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ^bufifteen years to your life. ^{▼▼Hebrew to your days} 6 ^bwI will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8 ^bxBehold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined. ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain}

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said, ^bzIn the middle ^{▼▼Or In the quiet} of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord,
the Lord ^cbin the land of the living;
I shall look on man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
^cclike a shepherd’s tent;
^cdlike a weaver ^ceI have rolled up my life;
^cfhe cuts me off from the loom;
^cgfrom day to night you bring me to an end;
13 ^chI calmed myself ^{▼▼Or (with Targum) I cried for help} until morning;
like a lion ^cjhe breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like ^cka swallow or a crane I chirp;
^clI moan like a dove.
^cmMy eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; ^cnbe my pledge of safety!
15 What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
^coI walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 ^cpO Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh restore me to health and make me live!
17 ^cqBehold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
^crbut in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
^csfor you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
18 ^ctFor Sheol does not thank you;
death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
^cuthe father makes known to the children
your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
and we will play my music on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
^cvat the house of the Lord.
21 ^cwNow Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

Isaiah 39

Envoys from Babylon

1 ^cxAt that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^cysent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, ^czthe silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. ^daThere was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 ^dbBehold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 ^dcAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, ^dd“There will be peace and security in my days.”