Isaiah 37
1 When Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the Lord's Temple.
And when the King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth and came into the House of the Lord.
2 He sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna, the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to see the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
And he sent Eliakim the stewarde of the house, aud Shebna the chanceller, with the Elders of the Priestes, clothed in sackcloth vnto Isaiah the Prophet, the sonne of Amoz.
3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble and of punishment. It's like when babies arrive at the entrance to the birth canal but there's no strength to deliver them.
And they sayd vnto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of tribulation and of rebuke and blasphemie: for the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring foorth.
4 Maybe the Lord your God, hearing the message the army commander delivered on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria—a message sent to insult the living God—will punish him for his words. Please say a prayer for the remnant of us who still survive.”
If so be the Lord thy God hath heard the wordes of Rabshakeh, whom the King of Asshur his master hath sent to raile on the liuing God, and to reproch him with wordes which the Lord thy God hath heard, then lift thou vp thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
5 After Hezekiah's officials delivered his message to Isaiah,
So the seruants of the King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah replied to them, “Tell your master, This is what the Lord says: Don't be frightened by the words that you have heard, the words used by the servants of the king of Assyria to blaspheme me.
And Isaiah sayde vnto them, Thus say vnto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afrayd of the wordes that thou hast heard, wherewith the seruants of the king of Asshur haue blasphemed me.
7 Look, I'm going to scare him—he'll hear a rumor, and he'll have to return to his own country. When he's there I'll have him killed by the sword.”
Beholde, I wil send a blast vpon him, and he shall heare a noyse, and returne to his owne land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his owne land.
8 The Assyrian army commander left and went back to join the king of Assyria, having heard the king had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the King of Asshur fighting against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 Sennacherib had received a message about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that said, “Watch out! He is coming to attack you.” So Sennacherib sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
He heard also men say of Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, Beholde, he is come out to fight against thee: and when he heard it, he sent other messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Don't let your God, the one you're trusting in, fool you by saying that Jerusalem won't fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.
Thus shall ye speake to Hezekiah King of Iudah, saying, Let not thy God deceiue thee, in whom thou trustest, saying, Ierusalem shall not be giuen into the hand of the King of Asshur.
11 Look! You've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries they've invaded— they destroyed them completely! Do you really think you'll be saved?
Beholde, thou hast heard what the Kings of Asshur haue done to all lands in destroying them, and shalt thou be deliuered?
12 Did the gods of the nations my forefathers destroyed save them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?
Haue the gods of the nations deliuered them, which my fathers haue destroyed? as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were at Telassar?
13 Where today is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”
Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the King of the citie of Sepharuaim, Hena and Iuah?
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the Lord's Temple and opened it out before the Lord.
So Hezekiah receiued the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went vp into the House of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it before the Lord.
15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah prayed vnto the Lord, saying,
16 “Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you who live above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth, you are Creator of heaven and earth.
O Lord of hostes, God of Israel, which dwellest betweene the Cherubims, thou art very God alone ouer all the kingdomes of the earth: thou hast made the heauen and the earth.
17 Please listen with your ears, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
Encline thine eare, O Lord, and heare: open thine eyes, O Lord, and see, and heare all the wordes of Saneherib, who hath sent to blaspheme the liuing God.
18 Yes, it's true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed these nations and their lands.
Trueth it is, O Lord, that the Kings of Asshur haue destroyed all lands, and their countrey,
19 They have thrown their gods into the fire because they are not really gods—they are just the work of human hands, made of wood and stone so they could destroy them.
And haue cast their gods in ye fire: for they were no gods, but the worke of mans hands, euen wood or stone: therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now, Lord our God, please save us from him, in order that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that only you, Lord, are God.”
Nowe therefore, O Lord our God, saue thou vs out of his hand, that all the kingdomes of the earth may knowe, that thou onely art the Lord.
21 Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you've prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
Then Isaiah the sonne of Amoz sent vnto Hezekiah, saying, Thus sayth the Lord God of Israel, Because thou hast prayed vnto me, concerning Saneherib king of Asshur,
22 this is the word of the Lord condemning him: The virgin daughter of Zion scorns you and mocks you; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head as you run away.
This is the worde that the Lord hath spoken against him, the virgine, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorne: the daughter of Ierusalem, hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Who have you been insulting and ridiculing? Who did you raise your voice against? Who did you look at with so proud eyes? It was against the Holy One of Israel!
Whome hast thou railed on and blasphemed? and against whome hast thou exalted thy voyce, and lifted vp thine eyes on hie? euen against the holy one of Israel.
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord. You said: ‘With my many chariots I have ascended to the high mountains, to the farthest peaks of Lebanon. I have chopped down its tallest cedars, the best of its cypress trees. I have reached its most distant heights, its deepest forests.
By thy seruants hast thou railed on the Lord, and sayd, By the multitude of my charets I am come vp to the top of the mountaines to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut downe the hie cedars thereof, and the faire firre trees thereof, and I will goe vp to the heightes of his top and to the forest of his fruitfull places.
25 I have dug wells and drunk water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers in Egypt.’”
I haue digged and drunke the waters, and with the plant of my feete haue I dryed all the riuers closed in.
26 The Lord replies, “Haven't you heard? I decided it long ago; I planned it in the olden days. Now I am making sure it happens—that you are to knock down fortified towns into piles of rubble.
Hast thou not heard howe I haue of olde time made it, and haue formed it long ago? and should I now bring it, that it should be destroyed, and layde on ruinous heapes, as cities defensed?
27 Their people, powerless, are terrified and humiliated. They're like plants in a field, like soft green shoots, like grass that sprouts on the rooftop—scorched before it can even grow.
Whose inhabitants haue small power, and are afrayd and confounded: they are like the grasse of the field and greene herbe, or grasse on the house tops, or corne blassed afore it be growen.
28 But I know you very well—where you live, when you come in, when you leave, and your furious anger against me.
But I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy comming in, and thy fury against me.
29 Because of your furious anger against me, and because I know how you disrespect me, I'm going to put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will force you to return the same way you came.”
Because thou ragest against me, and thy tumult is come vnto mine eares, therefore will I put mine hooke in thy nostrels, and my bridle in thy lips, and wil bring thee backe againe the same way thou camest.
30 “Hezekiah, this will be a sign to prove this is true: This year you'll eat what grows by itself. The second year you'll eat what grows from that. But in the third year you'll sow and reap, you'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
And this shalbe a signe vnto thee, O Hezekiah, Thou shalt eate this yeere such as groweth of it selfe: and the second yeere, such things as growe without sowing: and in the third yeere, sowe ye and reape, and plant vineyards, and eate the fruite thereof.
31 The remnant that's left of Judah will revive again, sending roots below and bearing fruit above.
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Iudah, shall againe take roote downward and beare fruite vpward.
32 For a remnant will come out of Jerusalem, and survivors will come from Mount Zion. The intense determination of the Lord will make sure this happens.
For out of Ierusalem shall goe a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeale of the Lord of hostes shall doe this.
33 This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city or shoot an arrow at it. He shall not advance towards it with a shield, or build a siege ramp against it.
Therefore thus sayth the Lord, concerning the King of Asshur, He shall not enter into this citie, nor shoote an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it.
34 He shall return the same way he came, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord.
By the same way that he came, he shall returne, and not come into this citie, saith the Lord.
35 I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
For I will defend this citie to saue it, for mine owne sake, and for my seruant Dauids sake.
36 Then the angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 of them. When the survivors woke up in the morning, they were surrounded by dead bodies.
Then the Angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the campe of Asshur an hundreth, fourescore, and fiue thousand: so when they arose early in the morning, beholde, they were all dead corpses.
37 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, gave up and left. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there.
So Saneherib king of Asshur departed, and went away and returned and dwelt at Nineueh.
38 While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword and then ran away to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him as king.
And as he was in the temple worshipping of Nisroch his god, Adramelech and Sharezer his sonnes slewe him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat: and Esarhaddon his sonne reigned in his steade.
