Isaiah 37
1 And on hearing it Hezekiah took off his robe and put on haircloth and went into the house of the Lord.
And 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.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
And he sent Elyakim, who was superintendent over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet.
3 And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame: for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.
And they said unto him, Thus hath said Hezekiah, A day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of derision is this day; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people.
Perhaps the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and who hath reproached with the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is still found here.
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus hath said the Lord, Be not afraid because of the words which thou hast heard, with which the boys of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 See, I will put a spirit into him, and bad news will come to his ears, and he will go back to his land; and there I will have him put to death.
Behold, I will put an [other] spirit in him, and when he will hear a rumor, he shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah: for it had come to his ears that the king of Assyria had gone away from Lachish.
And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, ... And he sent representatives to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying,
And he heard it said of Thirhakah the king of Ethiopia, He is come out to fight with thee. And when he had heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.
Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, as followeth, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given up into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse: and will you be kept safe from their fate?
Behold, thou thyself hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by destroying them utterly: and thou alone shouldst be delivered?
12 Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
Have the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed delivered them, as Gozan, and Charan, and Rezeph, and the children of 'Eden, who were in Thelassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivva?
Where is the king of Chamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvayim, of Hena', and 'Ivvah?
14 And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord,
And Hezekiah took the letter out of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it out before the Lord.
15 And he made prayer to the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
16 O Lord of armies, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the [true] God, thou alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth; [for] it is thou who hast made the heavens and earth.
17 Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord; let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see: take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.
Bend down, O Lord, thy ear, and hear; open, O Lord, thy eye, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.
18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste all the nations and their lands,
Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations, and their land;
19 And have given their gods to the fire: for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.
And they have placed their gods into the fire; for they are no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone; and these have they destroyed.
20 But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hand, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you, and you only, are the Lord.
And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, thou alone.
21 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.
Then sent Isaiah the son of Amoz unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus hath said the Lord the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib the king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.
This is the word that the Lord hath spoken over him: She despiseth thee, she laugheth thee to scorn, the virgin daughter of Zion; behind she shaketh her head, the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Whom hast thou blasphemed, and [whom] hast thou scorned? and against whom hast thou raised thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? against the Holy One of Israel.
24 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
Through thy servants hast thou blasphemed the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I indeed come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its fir-trees: and I will enter into the height of its summit, the forest of its fruitful soil.
25 I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
I have dug, and drunk water; and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the streams of besieged places.
26 Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls.
Hadst thou not heard, that in distant ages I had prepared this? in the times of antiquity when I formed it? now have I brought it along, and it came to pass to desolate into ruinous heaps fortified cities.
27 This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste.
And thus their inhabitants were of short power, they were discouraged and confounded: they were as the herbs of the field, and as the green grass; as the moss on the housetops, and as corn blasted before the ear appeareth.
28 But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
But thy abiding, and thy going out, and thy coming in do I know, and thy raging against me.
29 Because your wrath against me and your pride have come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.
Because of thy raging against me, and thy tumult, that is come up into my ears, will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle between thy lips, and I will cause thee to turn back on the way by which thou camest.
30 And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself, and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed, and get in the grain, and make vine-gardens, and take of their fruit.
And this shall be unto thee the sign, Ye shall eat this year what groweth of itself, and in the second year what springeth after the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth, and give fruit.
And the remnant of the house of Judah that is escaped shall yet strike root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32 For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which escapeth out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33 For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it.
Therefore thus hath said the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow thereon, nor come before it with shields, nor cast up an embankment against it.
34 By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town.
On the way by which he came, by the same shall he return, and into this city shall he not come, saith the Lord.
35 For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
And I will shield this city to save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.
36 And the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men: and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.
Then went out an angel of the Lord, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty and five thousand men; and when people arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh.
And Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword, and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon, his son, became king in his place.
And it came to pass, as he was prostrating himself 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 Ararat. And Essar-chaddon his son became king in his stead.
