Isaiah 37:21–35

Sennacherib’s Fall

37:21–38pp—2Ki 19:20–37; 2Ch 32:20–21

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz^m 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, ²²this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

“Virgin Daughterⁿ Zion^o

despises and mocks you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head^p as you flee.

²³Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^q

Against whom have you raised your voice^r

and lifted your eyes in pride?^s

Against the Holy One^t of Israel!

²⁴By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,

‘With my many chariots^u

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights^v of Lebanon.^w

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.^x

I have reached its remotest heights,

the finest of its forests.

²⁵I have dug wells in foreign lands^c

and drunk the water there.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up^y all the streams of Egypt.^z’

²⁶“Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained^a it.

In days of old I planned^b it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.^c

²⁷Their people, drained of power,

are dismayed and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,

like grass^d sprouting on the roof,^e

scorched^d before it grows up.

²⁸“But I know where you are

and when you come and go^f

and how you rage^g against me.

²⁹Because you rage against me

and because your insolence^h has reached my ears,

I will put my hookⁱ in your nose^j

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will make you return

by the way you came.^k

³⁰“This will be the sign^l for you, Hezekiah:

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

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third yearⁿ sow and reap,

plant vineyards^o and eat their fruit.^p

³¹Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah

will take root^q below and bear fruit^r above.

³²For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^s

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

The zeal^u of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

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

“He will not enter this city^v

or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield

or build a siege ramp^w against it.

³⁴By the way that he came he will return;^x

he will not enter this city,”

declares the Lord.

³⁵“I will defend^y this city and save it,

for my sake^z and for the sake of David^a my servant!”