< Isaiah 37 >
1 When king Hezekiah sh'ma ·heard obeyed· it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Adonai’s house.
2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah [Salvation of Yah] the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth.
4 It may be Adonai your God will sh'ma ·hear obey· the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria [Level plain] his master has sent to defy the Elohim Chayim [Living God], and will rebuke the words which Adonai your God has sh'ma ·heard obeyed·. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah [Salvation of Yah].
6 Isaiah [Salvation of Yah] said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Adonai says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have sh'ma ·heard obeyed·, with which the servants of the king of Assyria [Level plain] have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will sh'ma ·hear obey· news, and will teshuvah ·completely return· to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
8 So Rabshakeh make teshuvah ·complete return·, and found the king of Assyria [Level plain] warring against Libnah, for he had sh'ma ·heard obeyed· that he was departed from Lachish.
9 He sh'ma ·heard obeyed· news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he sh'ma ·heard obeyed· it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah [Praised], saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem [City of peace] won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria [Level plain].”
11 Behold, you have sh'ma ·heard obeyed· what the kings of Assyria [Level plain] have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?
12 Have the deities of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran [Mountaineer], Rezeph, and the children 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, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Adonai’s house, and spread it before Adonai.
15 Hezekiah prayed to Adonai, saying,
16 “Adonai Tzva'ot [Yahweh Commander of heaven’s armies], the God of Israel [God prevails], who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17 Turn your ear, Adonai, and sh'ma ·hear obey·. Open your eyes, Adonai, and behold. Sh'ma ·Hear obey· all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the Elohim Chayim [Living God].
18 Truly, Adonai, the kings of Assyria [Level plain] have destroyed all the countries and their land,
19 and have cast their deities into the fire; for they were no elohim ·deities, judges·, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, Yahweh Eloheikhem [Yahweh our God], save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Adonai, even you only.”
21 Then Isaiah [Salvation of Yah] the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, Elohim Isra'el [He sustains breathing, God of God prevails] says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria [Level plain],
22 this is the word which Adonai has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking] has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem [City of peace] has shaken her head at you.
23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against haKadosh Isra'el [the Holy One of God prevails].
24 By your servants, have you defied 'Adonay [Lord], and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.
25 I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt [Abode of slavery].”
26 Have you not sh'ma ·heard obeyed· how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.
27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.
28 But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.
29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
30 This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah [Praised] will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem [City of peace] a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking]. The zeal of Adonai Tzva'ot [Yahweh Commander of heaven’s armies] will perform this.’
33 Therefore Adonai says concerning the king of Assyria [Level plain], ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall teshuvah ·completely return·, and he shall not come to this city,’ says Adonai.
35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David [Beloved]’s sake.’”
36 Ha mal'ak Yahweh [The Angel of He sustains breathing] went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria [Level plain] departed, went away, teshuvah ·completely returned· to Nineveh [Offspring’s Habitation], and stayed there.
38 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his deity, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
