37
1 When
King Hezekiah
heard it, he
tore his clothes,
covered himself
with sackcloth,
and went into
the LORD’s house.
2 He
sent Eliakim, who
was over the
household, and
Shebna the scribe,
and the elders
of the priests,
covered with
sackcloth, to
Isaiah the prophet,
the son of Amoz.
3 They said
to him, “Hezekiah
says, ‘Today is
a day of
trouble, and of
rebuke, and of
rejection; for the
children have come
to the birth,
and there is no
strength to give
birth.
4 It
may be the
LORD your God
will hear the
words of Rabshakeh,
whom the king
of Assyria his master
has sent to
defy the living
God, and will
rebuke the words
which the LORD
your God has
heard. Therefore
lift up your
prayer for the
remnant that is
left.’ ”
5 So
the servants of
King Hezekiah came
to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah
said to them, “Tell
your master, ‘The
LORD says, “Don’t
be afraid of
the words that
you have heard,
with which the
servants of the
king of Assyria
have blasphemed me.
7 Behold,
I will put
a spirit in
him and he
will hear news,
and will return
to his own land. I
will cause him
to fall by
the sword in
his own land.” ’ ”
8 So
Rabshakeh returned,
and found the
king of Assyria
warring against
Libnah, for he
heard that he
had departed from
Lachish.
9 He
heard news concerning
Tirhakah king of
Ethiopia, “He has
come out to
fight against you.”
When he heard
it, he sent
messengers to
Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus
you shall speak to
Hezekiah king of
Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let
your God in whom
you trust deceive
you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t
be given into
the hand of
the king
of Assyria.”
11 Behold,
you have heard
what the kings
of Assyria have
done to all lands,
by destroying them
utterly. Shall you
be delivered?
12 Have
the gods of the
nations delivered
them, which
my fathers have
destroyed, Gozan,
Haran, Rezeph, and
the children of
Eden who were
in Telassar?
13 Where is
the king of
Hamath, and the
king of Arpad, and
the king of
the city of
Sepharvaim, of
Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”
14 Hezekiah
received the
letter from the
hand of the
messengers and
read it. Then
Hezekiah went up
to the LORD’s
house, and spread
it before the
LORD.
15 Hezekiah
prayed to the
LORD, saying,
16 “LORD
of Armies, the
God of Israel,
who is enthroned
among the cherubim,
you are the
God, even you
alone, of all
the kingdoms of
the earth. You
have made heaven
and earth.
17 Turn
your ear, LORD,
and hear. Open
your eyes, LORD,
and behold. Hear
all of the
words of
Sennacherib, who
has sent to
defy the living
God.
18 Truly, LORD,
the kings
of Assyria have
destroyed all
the countries and
their land,
19 and
have cast
their gods into
the fire; for they
were no gods, but
the work of
men’s hands, wood
and stone; therefore
they have destroyed
them.
20 Now
therefore, LORD
our God, save
us from his
hand, that all
the kingdoms of
the earth may know
that you are
the LORD, even
you only.”
21 Then
Isaiah the son
of Amoz sent to
Hezekiah, saying, “The
LORD, the God
of Israel says, ‘Because
you have prayed
to me against
Sennacherib king
of Assyria,
22 this
is the word
which the LORD
has spoken
concerning him:
The virgin
daughter of Zion
has despised you
and ridiculed you.
The daughter of
Jerusalem has
shaken her head
at you.
23 Whom
have you defied
and blasphemed?
Against whom have
you exalted your
voice and lifted
up your eyes
on high? Against
the Holy One
of Israel.
24 By
your servants, you
have defied
the Lord, and
have said, “With
the multitude of
my chariots I
have come up
to the height
of the mountains,
to the innermost
parts of Lebanon.
I will cut
down its
tall cedars and
its choice cypress
trees. I will
enter into its
farthest height,
the forest of
its fruitful field.
25 I
have dug and
drunk water, and
with the sole
of my feet
I will dry
up all the
rivers of Egypt.”
26 “ ‘Have
you not heard
how I have
done it long
ago, and formed
it in ancient
times? Now I
have brought it
to pass, that
it should be yours
to destroy
fortified cities, turning
them into ruinous
heaps.
27 Therefore
their inhabitants
had little power.
They were dismayed
and confounded. They
were like the
grass of the
field, and like
the green herb,
like the grass
on the housetops,
and like a
field before
its crop has grown.
28 But I
know your sitting
down, your going
out, your coming
in, and your
raging against me.
29 Because
of your raging
against me, and
because your
arrogance has come
up into my ears,
therefore I will
put my hook
in your nose and
my bridle in
your lips, and
I will turn
you back by
the way by which
you came.
30 “ ‘This
shall be the sign
to you: You
will eat this year
that which grows
of itself, and
in the second
year that
which springs from
it; and in
the third year
sow and reap
and plant
vineyards, and eat
their fruit.
31 The
remnant that is
escaped of the
house of Judah
will again take
root downward, and
bear fruit upward.
32 For
out of Jerusalem
a remnant will
go out, and
survivors will
escape from Mount
Zion. The zeal
of the LORD
of Armies will
perform this.’
33 “Therefore
the LORD says
concerning the
king of Assyria, ‘He
will not come
to this city,
nor shoot an
arrow there,
neither will he
come before it
with shield, nor
cast up a mound
against it.
34 He
will return the
way that he
came, and he won’t
come to this
city,’ says the
LORD.
35 ‘For
I will defend
this city to
save it, for
my own sake, and
for my servant
David’s sake.’ ”
36 Then
the LORD’s angel
went out and
struck one hundred
and eighty-five thousand
men in the
camp of
the Assyrians. When
men arose early
in the morning,
behold, these were
all dead bodies.
37 So
Sennacherib king
of Assyria departed,
went away,
returned to
Nineveh, and
stayed there.
38 As
he was worshiping
in the house
of Nisroch his god,
Adrammelech and Sharezer
his sons struck
him with the
sword; and they
escaped into
the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon
his son reigned
in his place.