Isaiah 37:2–39:8

²Hezekiah sent Eliakim, the palace manager, and Shebna, the royal secretary, and the older priests to Isaiah. They were all wearing rough cloth when they came to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³They told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of sorrow and punishment and disgrace, as when a child should be born, but the mother is not strong enough to give birth to it. ⁴The king of Assyria sent his field commander to make fun of the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear what the commander said and will punish him for it. So pray for the few of us who are left alive.”

⁵When Hezekiah’s officers came to Isaiah, ⁶he said to them, “Tell your master this: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you have heard. Don’t be frightened by the words the servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against me. ⁷Listen! I am going to put a spirit in the king of Assyria. He will hear a report that will make him return to his own country, and I will cause him to die by the sword there.’ ”

⁸The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. When he went back, he found the king fighting against the city of Libnah.

⁹The king received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was coming to attack him. When the king of Assyria heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Tell Hezekiah king of Judah: Don’t be fooled by the god you trust. Don’t believe him when he says Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done. They have completely defeated every country, so do not think you will be saved. ¹²Did the gods of those people save them? My ancestors destroyed them, defeating the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and the people of Eden living in Tel Assar. ¹³Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah Prays to the Lord

¹⁴When Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Temple of the Lord. He spread the letter out before the Lord ¹⁵and prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶“Lord All-Powerful, you are the God of Israel, whose throne is between the gold creatures with wings, only you are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷Hear, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to all the words Sennacherib has said to insult the living God.

¹⁸“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire, but they were only wood and rock statues that people made. So the kings have destroyed them. ²⁰Now, Lord our God, save us from the king’s power so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

The Lord Answers Hezekiah

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah that said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘You prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²²So this is what the Lord has said against Sennacherib:

The people of Jerusalem

hate you and make fun of you;

the people of Jerusalem

laugh at you as you run away.

²³You have insulted me and spoken against me;

you have raised your voice against me.

You have a proud look on your face,

which is against me, the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴You have sent your messengers to insult the Lord.

You have said, “With my many chariots

I have gone to the tops of the mountains,

to the highest mountains of Lebanon.

I have cut down its tallest cedars

and its best pine trees.

I have gone to its greatest heights

and its best forests.

²⁵I have dug wells in foreign countries

and drunk water there.

By the soles of my feet,

I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”

²⁶“ ‘King of Assyria, surely you have heard.

Long ago I, the Lord, planned these things.

Long ago I designed them,

and now I have made them happen.

I allowed you to turn those strong, walled cities

into piles of rocks.

²⁷The people in those cities were weak;

they were frightened and put to shame.

They were like grass in the field,

like tender, young grass,

like grass on the housetop

that is burned by the wind before it can grow.

²⁸“ ‘I know when you rest,

when you come and go,

and how you rage against me.

²⁹Because you rage against me,

and because I have heard your proud words,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth.

Then I will force you to leave my country

the same way you came.’

³⁰“Then the Lord said, ‘Hezekiah, I will give you this sign:

This year you will eat the grain that grows wild,

and the second year you will eat what grows wild from that.

But in the third year, plant grain and harvest it.

Plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³¹Some of the people in the family of Judah

will escape.

Like plants that take root,

they will grow strong and have many children.

³²A few people will come out of Jerusalem alive;

a few from Mount Zion will live.

The strong love of the Lord All-Powerful

will make this happen.’

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

‘He will not enter this city

or even shoot an arrow here.

He will not fight against it with shields

or build a ramp to attack the city walls.

³⁴He will return to his country the same way he came,

and he will not enter this city,’

says the Lord.

³⁵‘I will defend and save this city

for my sake and for David, my servant.’ ”

³⁶Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies. ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁸One day as Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. So Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became king of Assyria.

Hezekiah’s Illness

38At that time Hezekiah became very sick; he was almost dead. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: Make arrangements, because you are not going to live, but die.”

²Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³“Lord, please remember that I have always obeyed you. I have given myself completely to you and have done what you said was right.” Then Hezekiah cried loudly.

⁴Then the Lord spoke his word to Isaiah: ⁵“Go to Hezekiah and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. So I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.

⁷“ ‘The Lord will do what he says. This is the sign from the Lord to show you: ⁸The sun has made a shadow go down the stairway of Ahaz, but I will make it go back ten steps.’ ” So the shadow made by the sun went back up the ten steps it had gone down.

⁹After Hezekiah king of Judah got well, he wrote this song:

¹⁰I said, “I am in the middle of my life.

Do I have to go through the gates of death?

Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?”

¹¹I said, “I will not see the Lord

in the land of the living again.

I will not again see the people

who live on the earth.

¹²Like a shepherd’s tent,

my home has been pulled down and taken from me.

I am finished

like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom. ⁿ

In one day you brought me to this end.

¹³All night I cried loudly.

Like a lion, he crushed all my bones.

In one day you brought me to this end.

¹⁴I cried like a bird

and moaned like a dove.

My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens.

Lord, I have troubles. Please help me.”

¹⁵What can I say?

The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.

I have had these troubles in my soul,

so now I will be humble all my life.

¹⁶Lord, because of you, people live.

Because of you, my spirit also lives;

you made me well and let me live.

¹⁷It was for my own good

that I had such troubles.

Because you love me very much,

you did not let me die

but threw my sins

far away.

¹⁸People in the place of the dead cannot praise you;

those who have died cannot sing praises to you;

those who die don’t trust you

to help them.

¹⁹The people who are alive are the ones who praise you.

They praise you as I praise you today.

A father should tell his children

that you provide help.

²⁰The Lord saved me,

so we will play songs on stringed instruments

in the Temple of the Lord

all the days of our lives.

²¹Then Isaiah said, “Make a paste from figs and put it on Hezekiah’s boil. Then he will get well.” ²²Hezekiah then asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign? What will show that I will go up to the Temple of the Lord?”

Messengers from Babylon

39At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was now well. ²Hezekiah was pleased and showed the messengers what was in his storehouses: the silver, gold, spices, expensive perfumes, his swords and shields, and all his wealth. He showed them everything in his palace and in his kingdom.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from a faraway country—from Babylon.”

⁴So Isaiah asked him, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. I showed them all my wealth.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Listen to the words of the Lord All-Powerful: ⁶‘In the future everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have stored up until this day will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ⁷Some of your own children, those who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become servants in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸Hezekiah told Isaiah, “These words from the Lord are good.” He said this because he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”