Isaiah 37
1 And when the King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth and came into the House of the Lord.
And it happened that, when king Hezekiah had heard this, he rent his garments, and he wrapped himself in sackcloth, and he entered the house of the Lord.
2 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.
And he sent Eliakim, who was 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 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.
And they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. For the sons have arrived at the time for birth, but there is not enough strength to bring them forth.
4 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.
Perhaps, somehow, the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, has sent to blaspheme the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayers on behalf of the remnant which has been left behind.”
5 So the seruants of the King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
And so the servants of king Hezekiah went to Isaiah.
6 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.
And Isaiah said to them: “You shall say this to your lord: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid to face the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of the Assyrians blasphemed me.
7 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.
Behold, I will send a spirit to him, and he will hear a message, and he will return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword, in his own land.”
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the King of Asshur fighting against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
Then Rabshakeh returned, and he found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had set out from Lachish.
9 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,
And he heard from Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia: “He has gone forth so that he may fight against you.” And when he had heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:
10 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.
“You shall say this to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, saying: Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying: ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.’
11 Beholde, thou hast heard what the Kings of Asshur haue done to all lands in destroying them, and shalt thou be deliuered?
Behold, you have heard about all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands that they have conquered, and so, how can you be delivered?
12 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?
Have the gods of the nations rescued those whom my fathers have conquered: Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were at Telassar?
13 Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the King of the citie of Sepharuaim, Hena and Iuah?
Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena and Ivvah?”
14 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.
And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it out in the sight of the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed vnto the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:
16 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.
“O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel who sits upon the Cherubim: you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17 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.
O Lord, incline your ear and listen. O Lord, open your eyes and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to blaspheme the living God.
18 Trueth it is, O Lord, that the Kings of Asshur haue destroyed all lands, and their countrey,
For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste to countries and territories.
19 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.
And they have cast their gods into the fire. For these were not gods, but the works of men’s hands, of wood and of stone. And they broke them into pieces.
20 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.
And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand. And let all the kingdoms of the earth acknowledge that you alone are Lord.”
21 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,
And Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because of what you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians,
22 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.
this is the word that the Lord has spoken over him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and mocked you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
23 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.
Whom have you insulted? And whom have you blasphemed? And against whom have you lifted up your voice and raised up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 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.
By the hand of your servants, you have reproached the Lord. And you have said: ‘With a multitude of my four-horse chariots, I have ascended the heights of the mountains adjoining Lebanon. And I will cut down its lofty cedars and its choice pine trees. And I will reach the top of its summit, to the forest of its Carmel.
25 I haue digged and drunke the waters, and with the plant of my feete haue I dryed all the riuers closed in.
I dug deep, and I drank water, and I dried up all the river banks with the sole of my foot.’
26 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?
Have you not heard what I have done to it in past times? In ancient times, I formed it. And now I have brought it forth. And it has been made so that the hills and the fortified cities would fight together, unto its destruction.
27 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.
Their inhabitants had unsteady hands. They trembled and were confused. They became like the plants of the field, and the grass of the pastures, and like the weeds on the rooftops, which wither before they are mature.
28 But I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy comming in, and thy fury against me.
I know your habitation, and your arrival, and your departure, and your madness against me.
29 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.
When you became angry against me, your arrogance rose up to my ears. Therefore, I will place a ring in your nose, and a bit between your lips. And I will turn you back on the road by which you arrived.
30 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.
But this shall be a sign for you: Eat, in this year, whatever springs up on its own. And in the second year, eat fruits. But in the third year, sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Iudah, shall againe take roote downward and beare fruite vpward.
And what will be saved from the house of Judah, and what is left behind, will form deep roots, and will bear high fruits.
32 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.
For from Jerusalem, a remnant shall go forth, and salvation from mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
33 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.
For this reason, thus says the Lord about the king of the Assyrians: He will not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor overtake it with a shield, nor dig a rampart all around it.
34 By the same way that he came, he shall returne, and not come into this citie, saith the Lord.
He will return on the road by which he arrived. And into this city, he will not enter, says the Lord.
35 For I will defend this citie to saue it, for mine owne sake, and for my seruant Dauids sake.
And I will protect this city, so that I may save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David, my servant.”
36 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.
Then the Angel of the Lord went forth and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, all these were dead bodies.
37 So Saneherib king of Asshur departed, and went away and returned and dwelt at Nineueh.
And Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, departed and went away. And he returned and lived at Nineveh.
38 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.
And it happened that, as he was adoring his god in the temple of Nisroch, his sons, Adramelech and Sharezer, struck him with the sword. And they fled into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.
