Isaiah 37

¹And it happened that, when king Hezekiah had heard this, he rent his garments, and he wrapped himself in sackcloth, and he entered the house of the Lord.

²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet.

³And they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. For the sons have arrived at the time for birth, but there is not enough strength to bring them forth.

⁴Perhaps, somehow, the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, has sent to blaspheme the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayers on behalf of the remnant which has been left behind.”

⁵And so the servants of king Hezekiah went to Isaiah.

⁶And Isaiah said to them: “You shall say this to your lord: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid to face the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of the Assyrians blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will send a spirit to him, and he will hear a message, and he will return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword, in his own land.”

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned, and he found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had set out from Lachish.

⁹And he heard from Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia: “He has gone forth so that he may fight against you.” And when he had heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:

¹⁰“You shall say this to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, saying: Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying: ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.’

¹¹Behold, you have heard about all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands that they have conquered, and so, how can you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations rescued those whom my fathers have conquered: Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were at Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena and Ivvah?”

¹⁴And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it out in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:

¹⁶“O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel who sits upon the Cherubim: you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁷O Lord, incline your ear and listen. O Lord, open your eyes and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to blaspheme the living God.

¹⁸For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste to countries and territories.

¹⁹And they have cast their gods into the fire. For these were not gods, but the works of men’s hands, of wood and of stone. And they broke them into pieces.

²⁰And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand. And let all the kingdoms of the earth acknowledge that you alone are Lord.”

²¹And Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because of what you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians,

²²this is the word that the Lord has spoken over him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and mocked you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²³Whom have you insulted? And whom have you blasphemed? And against whom have you lifted up your voice and raised up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴By the hand of your servants, you have reproached the Lord. And you have said: ‘With a multitude of my four-horse chariots, I have ascended the heights of the mountains adjoining Lebanon. And I will cut down its lofty cedars and its choice pine trees. And I will reach the top of its summit, to the forest of its Carmel.

²⁵I dug deep, and I drank water, and I dried up all the river banks with the sole of my foot.’

²⁶Have you not heard what I have done to it in past times? In ancient times, I formed it. And now I have brought it forth. And it has been made so that the hills and the fortified cities would fight together, unto its destruction.

²⁷Their inhabitants had unsteady hands. They trembled and were confused. They became like the plants of the field, and the grass of the pastures, and like the weeds on the rooftops, which wither before they are mature.

²⁸I know your habitation, and your arrival, and your departure, and your madness against me.

²⁹When you became angry against me, your arrogance rose up to my ears. Therefore, I will place a ring in your nose, and a bit between your lips. And I will turn you back on the road by which you arrived.

³⁰But this shall be a sign for you: Eat, in this year, whatever springs up on its own. And in the second year, eat fruits. But in the third year, sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³¹And what will be saved from the house of Judah, and what is left behind, will form deep roots, and will bear high fruits.

³²For from Jerusalem, a remnant shall go forth, and salvation from mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

³³For this reason, thus says the Lord about the king of the Assyrians: He will not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor overtake it with a shield, nor dig a rampart all around it.

³⁴He will return on the road by which he arrived. And into this city, he will not enter, says the Lord.

³⁵And I will protect this city, so that I may save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David, my servant.”

³⁶Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, all these were dead bodies.

³⁷And Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, departed and went away. And he returned and lived at Nineveh.

³⁸And it happened that, as he was adoring his god in the temple of Nisroch, his sons, Adramelech and Sharezer, struck him with the sword. And they fled into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.

Isaiah 37

¹And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

⁹And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,

¹⁶O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

¹⁷Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

¹⁸Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,

¹⁹And 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.

²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:

²²This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

²³Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.

²⁵I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

²⁶Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

²⁸But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

²⁹Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

³⁰And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

³¹And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

³²For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

³³Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.

³⁴By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.

³⁵For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

³⁶Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

³⁸And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar–haddon his son reigned in his stead.