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 when the king, Hezekiah, heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.
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 Eliakim, who was over the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
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 to him, Thus saith Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of contempt; for the children have 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.
It may be that Jehovah, thy God, will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, hath sent to reproach the living God, and to revile him with the words which Jehovah, thy God, hath heard. Do thou, therefore, lift up thy prayer for the remnant of the people, that is yet left.
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 to them, Thus shall ye say to your master: Thus saith Jehovah: Be not afraid on account of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants 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 a spirit within him, so that he shall hear a rumor, and 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.
Then Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had 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,
Then he heard concerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that it was said, “He is come forth to war against thee.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah and said,
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: Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given 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 hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands; how they have utterly destroyed them. And shalt thou 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?
Did the gods of the nations which my father destroyed, deliver them? Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden in Telassar?
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 Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Henah, and of Ivah?
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 received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. Then he went up to the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah.
15 And he made prayer to the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, 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 Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest between the cherubs, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven 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.
Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God.
18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste all the nations and their lands,
In truth, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations, and their lands,
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 have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.
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.
But do thou, O Jehovah, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone art Jehovah.
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 Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed to me on account of 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 which Jehovah hath spoken against him. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despiseth thee; she laugheth thee to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem shaketh her head after thee.
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 reproached, and reviled, And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, And lifted up thine 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.
By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and said: “With the multitude of my chariots have I ascended the heights of the mountains, the extremities of Lebanon; I have cut down its tall cedars, and its choice cypress-trees; I have come to its utmost height, to its garden forest.
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 digged and drunk water, And with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
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.
Hast thou not heard, that of old I ordained it, And from ancient times purposed it? Now have I brought it to pass, That thou shouldst convert fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
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.
Therefore were their inhabitants of little strength; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field, and the green herb; As grass upon the house-top, and as corn blasted, before it is grown up.
28 But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
I know thy sitting down, thy going out, and thy coming in, And thy rage 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 thy rage against me, and thy insolence, is come up into my ears, I will put my ring into thy nose, And my bridle into thy lips, And turn thee back by the way in 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 the sign to thee; Eat this year that which groweth of itself, And in the second year that which groweth of itself, And in the third year ye shall sow and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
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 have escaped, Shall again 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 from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And they that have escaped from mount Zion. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform 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 saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the king of Assyria; He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow into it; He shall not present a shield before it, Nor cast up a mound against it.
34 By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town.
By the way in which he came, by the same shall he return, And into this city shall he not come, saith Jehovah.
35 For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
For I will defend this city, and deliver it, For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
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 an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men; and when the people arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.
37 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh.
Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, decamped, and went away, 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 as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch, his god, he was slain with the sword by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer, who escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead.
