Isaiah 37
1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2 He sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and the elders of the priests, all covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, punishment, and disgrace, because the children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to give birth.
4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to insult the living God. May he rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant that still remains.’”
5 The servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the LORD says: “Do not be afraid because of the words you heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria insulted me.
7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, and when he hears a report, he will return to his own land. There I will make him fall by the sword.”’”
8 Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left Lachish.
9 The king heard about Tirhakah, king of Cush, and was told, “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:
10 “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”
11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. Will you be the one to escape?
12 Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them—the people of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivvah?’”
14 Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers’ hands and read them. Then he went up to the house of the LORD and spread them out before the LORD.
15 Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
16 “LORD of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17 Incline your ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to insult the living God.
18 It is true, LORD: the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands and their territories.
19 They threw their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone. So they destroyed them.
20 And now, LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘You prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria.’”
22 This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
23 Whom have you insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 Through your servants you have insulted the Lord and said, ‘With my many chariots I climbed the heights of the mountains, to the farthest reaches of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its finest cypresses, and reached its highest peak, its lush forest.
25 I dug wells and drank water; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the canals of Egypt.’”
26 “Have you not heard? Long ago I made it happen; from ancient days I planned it. Now I have brought it about, and fortified cities have become heaps of ruins.
27 Their inhabitants were powerless, terrified and put to shame. They became like grass in the field, green plants, grass on the rooftops, and a field scorched before the grain could grow.
28 I know when you sit, when you go out and when you come in, and how you rage against me.
29 Because you rage against me and your arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth; I will make you return by the road you came on.
30 And this will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own; in the second year, what springs up from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 The remnant of the house of Judah that escaped will again take root below and bear fruit above.
32 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will do this.”
33 Therefore this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it.
34 He will return by the road he came on; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
35 I will protect this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
36 Then the Angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they got up in the morning, there they all were, dead bodies.
37 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp, departed, and returned home; he settled in Nineveh.
38 One day, while he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.
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