Isaiah 37:1-25 ▼

1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and he entered the house of YHWH.

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

3 And they said to him “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and contempt! For sons have come to the point of birth, and there is not strength for giving birth.

4 Perhaps YHWH your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke the words that YHWH your God has heard. And lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

5 And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said to them “Thus will you? say to your? master: Thus says YHWH, ‘Do not be afraid before the face of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

7 Behold, I will put in him a spirit, and he will hear a rumor and return to his land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.’”

8 And the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria making war against Libnah, for he had heard that he had set out from Lachish.

9 And the king heard about Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, “He has come out to make war with you.” And when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10 “Thus you? will speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Let not your God deceive you, whom you trust in him, saying: Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 For behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction—and you, will you be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them that my fathers have destroyed—as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons 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, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of YHWH, and Hezekiah spread it out before the face of YHWH.

15 And Hezekiah prayed to YHWH, saying,

16 “O YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel, the One sitting above on the cherubim, You are God—You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

17 Incline, O YHWH, Your ear, and hear; open, O YHWH, Your eyes, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living God.

18 Truly, O YHWH, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands,

19 and have given their gods into the fire—for they are not gods, but only the work of the hands of man—wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.

20 And now, O YHWH our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are God, O YHWH, You alone!

21 And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says YHWH God of Israel: Because you have prayed to Me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word that YHWH has spoken concerning him: ‘She despises you, and mocks you—the virgin the daughter of Zion. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes the head behind you.

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

24 By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord, and you have said, “By the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I have cut down the tallest of its cedars, the choicest of its cypress trees; and I have come to the height of its end, the forest of its Carmel.

25 I have dug, and I have drunk foreign water, and I have dried up with the soles of my feet all the rivers of Egypt.”