Isaiah 36–39

SENNACHERIB’S INVASION

36In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,^ab King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ²Then the king of Assyria sent his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish^a to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to Launderer’s Field.^{b 3}Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,^c and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.

⁴The royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? ⁵You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?^{d 6}Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff^e that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.^{f 7}Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?^g

⁸“Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! ⁹How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?^{h 10}Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’ ”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,ⁱ since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”

¹²But the royal spokesman replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

¹³Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:

Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you,^j for he cannot rescue you. ¹⁵Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ ”

¹⁶Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace^B with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree^k and drink water from his own cistern ¹⁷until 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. ¹⁸Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’^l Has any one of the gods of the nations^m rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?ⁿ Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?^{o 20}Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?”

²¹But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”^{p 22}Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.

HEZEKIAH SEEKS ISAIAH’S COUNSEL

37When King Hezekiah heard their report,^q he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,^r and went to the Lord’s temple. ²He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace.^s It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.^{t 4}Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,^a and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ”^b

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid^c because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.^{d 7}I am about to put a spirit^e in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ”^f

SENNACHERIB’S LETTER

⁸When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish,^g he left and found him fighting against Libnah.^{h 9}The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush,ⁱ “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you^j by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹²Did the gods of the nations^k that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan,^l Haran,^m Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of^A Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’ ”

HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER

¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.^{n 15}Then Hezekiah prayed^o to the Lord:

¹⁶Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^p you are God^q—you alone^r—of all the kingdoms of the earth.^s You made the heavens and the earth.^{t 17}Listen closely, Lord, and hear;^u open your eyes, Lord, and see.^v Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.^{w 18}Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods^x but made from wood and stone^y by human hands.^z So they have destroyed them. ²⁰Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God^aa—you alone.^ab

GOD’S ANSWER THROUGH ISAIAH

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, ²²this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

Virgin Daughter Zion^ac

despises you and scorns you;

Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head^ad

behind your back.

²³Who is it you have mocked^ae and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?^af

Against the Holy One of Israel!^ag

²⁴You have mocked the Lord through your servants.

You have said, “With my many chariots^ah

I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon.

I cut down its tallest cedars,

its choice cypress trees.

I came to its distant heights,

its densest forest.

²⁵I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands.

I dried up all the streams of Egypt

with the soles of my feet.”^ai

²⁶Have you not heard?^aj

I designed it long ago;

I planned it in days gone by.^ak

I have now brought it to pass,

and you have crushed fortified cities^al

into piles of rubble.

²⁷Their inhabitants have become powerless,

dismayed, and ashamed.

They are plants of the field,

tender grass,

grass on the rooftops,

blasted by the east wind.^B

²⁸But I know your sitting down,

your going out and your coming in,^a

and your raging against me.

²⁹Because your raging against me

and your arrogance have reached my ears,^b

I will put my hook in your nose^c

and my bit in your mouth;^d

I will make you go back

the way you came.

³⁰“ ‘This will be the sign for you:^e This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root^f downward and bear fruit upward. ³²For a remnant^g will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.’^h

³³“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city,

shoot an arrow here,

come before it with a shield,

or build up a siege ramp against it.

³⁴He will go back

the way he came,

and he will not enter this city.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

³⁵I will defend this city and rescue it

for my sakeⁱ

and for the sake of my servant David.”^j

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SENNACHERIB

³⁶Then^k the angel of the Lord^l went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.^m

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.ⁿ Then his son Esar-haddon^o became king in his place.

HEZEKIAH’S ILLNESS AND RECOVERY

38In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.^p The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order,^q for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ”^A

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ³He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly,^s and have done what pleases you.”^s And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life.^{t 6}And I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria; I…