Isaiah 36–37

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

36:1-22^pp — 2Ki 18:13,17–37; 2Ch 32:9–19

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s^a reign, Sennacherib^b king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.^c Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish^d to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,^e Eliakim^f son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,^g Shebna^h the secretary,ⁱ and Joah^j son of Asaph the recorder^k went out to him.

The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel^l against me? Look, I know you are depending^m on Egypt,^no that splintered reed^p of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. But if you say to me, “We are depending^q on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,^r saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?^s

“ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses^t—if you can put riders on them! How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt^u for chariots^v and horsemen?^w Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told^x me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”

Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah^y said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^z since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?^a”

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,^b “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!^c This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^d you. He cannot deliver you! Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver^e us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’^f

“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree^g and drink water from your own cistern,^h until I come and take you to a land like your ownⁱ—a land of grain and new wine,^j a land of bread and vineyards.

“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?^k Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?^l Have they rescued Samaria^m from my hand? Who of all the godsⁿ of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^o

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”^p

Then Eliakim^q son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder^r went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^s and told him what the field commander had said.

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

37:1-13^pp — 2Ki 19:1–13

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes^a and put on sackcloth^b and went into the temple^c of the Lord. He sent Eliakim^d the palace administrator, Shebna^e the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.^f They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress^g and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth^h and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridiculeⁱ the living God,^j and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard.^k Therefore pray^l for the remnant^m that still survives.”

When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraidⁿ of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^o me. Listen! When he hears a certain report,^p I will make him want^q to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down^r with the sword.’ ”

When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,^s he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.^t

Now Sennacherib^u received a report^v that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,^w was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive^x you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’^y Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?^z Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors^a deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran,^b Rezeph and the people of Eden^c who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad?^d Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim,^e Hena and Ivvah?”^f

Hezekiah’s Prayer

37:14-20^pp — 2Ki 19:14–19

Hezekiah received the letter^a from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple^b of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed^c to the Lord: “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned^d between the cherubim,^e you alone are God^f over all the kingdoms^g of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.^h Give ear, Lord, and hear;ⁱ open your eyes, Lord, and see;^j listen to all the words Sennacherib^k has sent to ridicule^l the living God.^m

“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.ⁿ They have thrown their gods into the fire^o and destroyed them,^p for they were not gods^q but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.^r Now, Lord our God, deliver^s us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth^t may know that you, Lord, are the only God.^u”

Sennacherib’s Fall

37:21-38^pp — 2Ki 19:20–37; 2Ch 32:20–21

Then Isaiah son of Amoz^a sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

“Virgin Daughter^b Zion^c

despises and mocks you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head^d as you flee.

Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^e

Against whom have you raised your voice^f

and lifted your eyes in pride?^g

Against the Holy One^h of Israel!

By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,

‘With my many chariotsⁱ

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights^j of Lebanon.^k

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.^l

I have reached its remotest heights,

the finest of its forests.

I have dug wells in foreign lands

and drunk the water there.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up^m all the streams of Egypt.ⁿ’

“Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained^o it.

In days of old I planned^p it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.^q

Their people, drained of power,

are dismayed and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,

like grass^r sprouting on the roof,^s

scorched before it grows up.

“But I know where you are

and when you come and go^t

and how you rage^u against me.

Because you rage against me

and because your insolence^v has reached my ears,

I will put my hook^w in your nose^x

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will make you return

by the way you came.^y

“This will be the sign^z for you, Hezekiah:

“This year^a you will eat what grows by itself,

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year^b sow and reap,

plant vineyards^c and eat their fruit.^d

Once more a remnant of the house of Judah

will take root^e below and bear fruit^f above.

For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^g

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^h

The zealⁱ of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city^j

or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield

or build a siege ramp^k against it.

By the way that he came he will return;^l

he will not enter this city,”

declares the Lord.

“I will defend^m this city and save it,

for my sakeⁿ and for the sake of David^o my servant!”

Then the angel^p of the Lord went out and put to death^q a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian^r camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib^s king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh^t and stayed there.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple^u of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat.^v And Esarhaddon^w his son succeeded him as king.^x