Isaiah 37–39

Hezekiah Consults Isaiah

37And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple^a of Yahweh. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of^b the palace,^c and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests covered^d with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. ³And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the cervical opening, and there is no strength to give birth. ⁴Maybe Yahweh your God heard the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.’ ”

⁵When^e the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “You must say this to your master: ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You must not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷Look! I am about to put^f a spirit in him so that^g he shall hear a rumor and he shall return to his land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.” ’ ”

⁸And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left from Lachish. ⁹Now^h heⁱ heard concerning Tirhakah the king of Cush, saying, “He has set out to fight against^j you.”

When^k he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹Look! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you—shall you be delivered? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors^l destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or^m Ivvah?’ ”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he readⁿ it. Then^o he went up to the temple^p of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the presence^q of Yahweh. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, ¹⁶“Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel who is enthroned on^r the cherubim, you are the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God! ¹⁸Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands^s and their land, ¹⁹to set^t their gods in the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them. ²⁰So^u now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that^v all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, you alone!”

God’s Answer

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

She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion;

she shakes her head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.

²³Whom have you taunted and blasphemed,

and against whom have you raised up your voice and lifted your eyes upward?

To the holy one of Israel!

²⁴By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord,

and you have said, “With my many chariots,^x

I myself have gone up the height of the mountains,

to the remote areas of Lebanon.

And I cut off its tall cedars,^y

the choicest of its junipers.

And I came to the height of its limit,

the forest of its orchard.^z

²⁵I myself dug and drank waters,

and I caused all the streams of Egypt to dry up by the sole of my feet.”

²⁶Have you not heard from a long time ago?^a I have made it

from days of primeval time, and I formed it.

Now I have brought it about,

and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones.

²⁷And their inhabitants are weak;^b

they are dismayed, and they are ashamed;

they have become like plants^c of the field,

and like greens of grass,

like grass on^d the roofs

and a cultivated field before^e the standing grain.

²⁸And I know your sitting down and your going out,

and your coming in, and your raging against^f me.

²⁹Because you were enraged against^g me,

and your noise^h has come up toⁱ my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bridle on your lips,

and I will turn you back

on the way by which you came.

³⁰And this shall be the sign for you: the eating of volunteer plants^j this^k year, and in the second year self-seeded plants,^l and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹And the remnant of the house of Judah that remain shall grow^m rootsⁿ downwards and make fruit upwards.

³²For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem

and survivors^o from mountain Zion.

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’

³³Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning^p the king of Assyria:

‘He shall not come to this city,

and he shall not shoot an arrow there,

and he shall not meet it with a shield,

and he shall not heap a siege ramp up against her.

³⁴He shall return by the way that he came,

and he shall not come to this city,’

declares^q Yahweh.

³⁵‘And I will defend this city, to save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Defeat

³⁶And the angel of Yahweh set out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When^r they rose in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. ³⁷Then^s Sennacherib king of Assyria left, went, and returned and lived at Nineveh. ³⁸And this happened: he was bowing in worship in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness

38In those days, Hezekiah became sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Order your house, for you are about to die, and you shall not recover.’ ” ²Then^a Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, ³and he said, “O Yahweh, please remember how^b I have walked before your presence^c in faithfulness with a whole heart, and I have done the good in your eyes!” And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

⁴Then^d the word of Yahweh came^e to Isaiah, saying, ⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your ancestor:^f “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to^g add fifteen years to your days. ⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’

⁷And this is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken: ⁸Look! I will cause the shadow of the steps, which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to turn backwards ten steps.” And the sun turned back ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.

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

¹⁰I was the one who said, “I must go in the quiet of my days;

I am summoned through the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”

¹¹I said, “I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living!

I shall no more look at humankind among the inhabitants of the world.

¹²My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd;

I have rolled up my life like a weaver.

He cuts me off from the thrum;

from day to night you bring me to an end.

¹³I lie down^h until morning;

like a lion, so he breaks all my bones;

from day to night you bring me to an end.

¹⁴Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp;

I moan like a dove.

My eyes are weak toward the height.

Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

¹⁵What can I say? Forⁱ he has spoken to me,

and he himself has done it.

I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, they live by them, and the life of my spirit belongs to all among them.

And restore me to health and keep me alive!

¹⁷Look! Bitterness was bitter to me for peace.

And you were the one who loved^j my life from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

¹⁸For Sheol cannot praise you; death cannot praise you.

Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

¹⁹The living, the living one praises you like me today;

a father will make your faithfulness known to children.

²⁰Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple^k of Yahweh.”

²¹And Isaiah said, “Let them take^l a lump of figs, and let them rub it on the boil so that^m he may recover.” ²²And Hezekiah said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the templeⁿ of Yahweh?”

The Delegation from Babylon

39At that time, Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for^a he heard that he had been sick and recovered. ²And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them his house of aromatic gum, the silver, gold, spices, good oil, all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them in his house or in all his dominion. ³And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah answered,^b “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.” ⁴And he^c said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered,^d “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing that I have not shown them in my storehouses.”

⁵And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: ⁶‘Look! days are coming, and all that is in your house and that which your ancestors^e have stored up to this day shall be…