IsaiahChapter 37

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¹King Hezekiah heard their report. He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the house of the LORD. ²He sent some men to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests. They were all wearing sackcloth. ³They told Isaiah, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, of being scolded, and of shame. It is like when babies are ready to be born, but there is no strength to give birth to them. ⁴The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh to insult the living God. Maybe the LORD your God will hear his words. Maybe he will punish him for the words the LORD your God has heard. So pray for the people who are still left alive." ⁵So King Hezekiah's servants went to Isaiah. ⁶Isaiah answered them, "Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: 'Do not be afraid of the words you have heard. The servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against me with those words. ⁷Listen! I will put a spirit in him. He will hear a rumor and go back to his own land. There I will make him die by the sword.'" ⁸The Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. So he left and found the king fighting against Libnah. ⁹Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush. He was told, "He has set out to fight against you." When Sennacherib heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah. He told them, ¹⁰"Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'You trust in your God. Don't let him fool you when he says Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹You have surely heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries. They destroyed them completely. So will you be saved? ¹²My fathers destroyed many nations. Did the gods of those nations rescue them? Think of the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar. ¹³Where is the king of Hamath? Where is the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'" ¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house of the LORD. He spread the letter out before the LORD. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. ¹⁶"LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, you sit on your throne above the cherubim. You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷Turn your ear to us, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. ¹⁸It is true, LORD. The kings of Assyria have destroyed all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them. For they were not gods. They were only wood and stone, made by human hands. ²⁰Now, LORD our God, save us from his hand. Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, LORD, are God." ²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah. It said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:
'The Virgin Daughter of Zion hates you and makes fun of you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back. ²³Who have you made fun of and spoken against?
Who have you shouted at?
Who have you looked down on in pride?
The Holy One of Israel! ²⁴You have sent your servants to make fun of the Lord.
You have said,
"With my many chariots
I have gone up to the tops of the mountains,
to the far peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its best cypress trees.
I have reached its highest places
and its thickest forests. ²⁵I have dug wells
and drunk water in foreign lands.
With the bottoms of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt." ²⁶Haven't you heard?
I decided it long ago.
I planned it in days of old.
Now I have made it happen.
I let you crush walled cities into piles of rubble. ²⁷So their people had no power.
They were afraid and ashamed.
They were like plants in the field,
like tender green sprouts,
like grass on the rooftops,
burned up before it is grown. ²⁸But I know when you sit down.
I know when you go out and when you come in.
I know how you rage against me. ²⁹Because your rage against me and your pride have reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will send you back the way you came.' ³⁰Hezekiah, this will be a sign for you: This year you will eat what grows by itself. In the second year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year you will plant and harvest. You will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹The people of Judah who are left alive will again put down roots below and bear fruit above. ³²For a group of people who are left will go out from Jerusalem. Survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will make this happen. ³³So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: 'He will not come into this city. He will not shoot an arrow into it. He will not come at it with a shield. He will not build a siege ramp against it. ³⁴He will go back the way he came. He will not come into this city,' says the LORD. ³⁵'I will defend this city and save it. I will do it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.'" ³⁶Then the angel of the LORD went out. He struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere! ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria packed up his camp and left. He went back to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁸One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became king after him.