Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help

1 d As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet e Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a f day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; g children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 h It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for i the remnant that is left.'"

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, j I will put a spirit in him, so that k he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and l I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'"

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against m Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left m Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of n Cush, 1 "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 "Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: o 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not 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, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 p Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, q Gozan, r Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 p Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 "O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, s enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; t you have made heaven and earth. 17 u Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear v all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, w the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 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 were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord."

Sennacherib's Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
"'She despises you, she scorns you -
x the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you -
the daughter of Jerusalem.

23 "'Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against y the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, z With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
a to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all b the streams c of Egypt.

26 d "'Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted 2 before it is grown.

28 "'I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 e Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and f I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.'

30 "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah g shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 h For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. i The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

33 "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or j cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 k For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for l the sake of my servant David."

36 m And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at n Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of o Ararat, p Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:1 - 38
    As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
    2 Kings 19:1
    As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:1
    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:5
    For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:8
    They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
    Hosea 13:13
    The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:28 - 29
    'I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:9
    If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:14
    The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:9
    Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:38
    And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
  10. Cross References
    Joshua 10:31
    Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it.
  11. Cross References
    Joshua 10:31
    Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 18:1 - 2
    Ah, land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush.
    Isaiah 20:5
    Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 36:14
    Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 36:18 - 19
    Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
  15. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:6
    In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
  16. Cross References
    Genesis 11:31 - 32
    Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:12
    Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
  18. Cross References
    Exodus 25:22
    There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
    Ezekiel 10:1
    Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire, in appearance like a throne.
  19. Cross References
    Acts 4:24
    And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
    Jeremiah 10:11
    Thus shall you say to them: "The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.
  20. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 6:40
    Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.
  21. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 32:19
    And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:13 - 14
    For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
  23. Cross References
    Micah 4:13
    Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.
    Isaiah 1:8
    And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:17
    The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 8:7 - 8
    Therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 14:8
    The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:6
    And its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.
  28. Cross References
    Isaiah 20:4
    So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.
  29. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:5
    Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
    Isaiah 10:15
    Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
    Isaiah 25:1 - 2
    O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
  30. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:12
    When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
  31. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:34
    By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
  32. Cross References
    Isaiah 27:6
    In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.
  33. Cross References
    Isaiah 14:32
    What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The Lord has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.
  34. Cross References
    Isaiah 9:7
    Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
  35. Cross References
    Habakkuk 1:10
    At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.
    Luke 19:43
    For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
  36. Cross References
    Isaiah 31:5
    Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.
    Isaiah 38:6
    I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
  37. Cross References
    Isaiah 29:1
    Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.
  38. Cross References
    Isaiah 17:14
    At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning...
    Isaiah 30:31
    The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the vo...
    Isaiah 31:8
    And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of ...
    Isaiah 10:33
    Behold, the Lord God of hosts will lop the boug...
    Isaiah 14:25
    That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and ...
    Isaiah 29:5
    But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be...
  39. Cross References
    Genesis 10:11
    From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and
    Jonah 1:2
    "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me."
    Jonah 3:3
    So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.
    Jonah 4:11
    And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?
  40. Cross References
    Genesis 8:4
    And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
  41. Cross References
    Ezra 4:2
    They approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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