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Isaiah 36-39
International Standard Version

Sennacherib Attacks

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,[a] King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander,[b] along with a very[c] large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the field commander stopped at the aqueduct at the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman’s Field, 3 Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, went out to him.

4 The field commander told them:

“Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah,[d] ‘This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this “guarantee” that makes you yourself[e] rely on it?[f] 5 Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand[g] strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you’re rebelling against me? 6 Take note: you’re relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him!

7 But if you all[h] say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship in front of this altar in[i] Jerusalem’?[j] 8 Come now, all of you,[k] make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you can furnish riders for them! 9 How, then, can you repulse even one officer from[l] the least of my master’s officials, when you are depending for yourselves[m] on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the Lord’s direction?[n] The Lord himself ordered me, ‘March against this country to[o] destroy it.’”[p]

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah replied to him,[q] “Please speak with[r] your servants—with us[s]—in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew[t] where the people sitting on[u] the wall can hear.”

12 But the field commander asked, “Was it only to all of you and to your[v] master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn’t it also to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

13 Then the[w] commander stood up and shouted out loud in Hebrew:[x]

“Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king of Assyria[y] says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you—for he cannot save you! 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord when he says, “The Lord will really deliver[z] us!” and[aa] “This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!” 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—to[ab] a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’ 18 Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The Lord will save us.” Has any god of any nation ever delivered[ac] his country from the[ad] king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me?[ae] 20 Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered[af] their land from me?[ag] How then can the Lord deliver[ah] Jerusalem from me?’”[ai]

21 But the people remained silent and didn’t respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”

22 Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn,[aj] and let him know what the field commander had said.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

37 As soon as Hezekiah the king[ak] heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the Lord’s Temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. 3 “Here is what Hezekiah says,” they told him. “This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city.”[al] 5 That’s why King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah.

Isaiah Responds to Hezekiah

6 “Here is what to tell your master,” Isaiah told them. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you’ve heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me. 7 Watch this! I’m going to place an attitude[am] within him,[an] so that when he hears a certain report, he’ll return to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.”[ao]

Sennacherib Retreats

8 So the field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had heard that the king of Assyria[ap] had left Lachish. 9 Now King Sennacherib[aq] had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: “He has marched out to fight against you.”

When he heard it, he returned and[ar] sent messengers to Hezekiah: 10 “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?’”[as]

Hezekiah Prays

14 Hezekiah received the letters from the messengers, and read them.[at] Then he[au] went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread the letters[av] in front of the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

16 “O Lord of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. 17 Extend your ear, Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, Lord, and look! Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. 18 It is true, Lord, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries,[aw] 19 and have thrown their gods into the fire—but they are not gods, but rather the products[ax] of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians[ay] destroyed them. 20 So now, Lord our God, save us from his oppressive[az] hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”[ba]

God’s Answer

21 Then Amoz’s son Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, to whom you prayed[bb] concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. 22 This is the message that the Lord has spoken in opposition to him:

“‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion
    despises and mocks you;
the Daughter of Jerusalem—
    she tosses her head behind you as you flee.
23 Whom have you insulted and reviled?
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers[bc] you have insulted the Lord,
    and you have said,
“With my many chariots
    I have climbed the heights of mountains,
        the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its pines;
I reached its remotest heights,
    the most verdant of its forests.
25 I myself dug wells[bd]
    and drank foreign[be] waters;
with the soles of my feet
    I dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

26 “‘Didn’t you hear
    how in the distant past I decided to do it,
        how[bf] I planned from days of old?
Now I’ve made it happen—
    that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps.[bg]
27 Their inhabitants are devoid of power,
    and are terrified and put to shame.
They’ve become like plants in the field,
    like[bh] green shoots,
like grass on rooftops,
    scorched by the east wind.[bi]

28 “‘I know when you rise up
    and[bj] when you sit down,
your comings and goings—
    and how you’ve become enraged at me.
29 Your insolence[bk] has reached my ears,
    so I’ll put my hook in your nose
        and my bit in your mouth,[bl]
and I’ll make you turn back on the road
    by which you came.

30 “And this will be your sign, Hezekiah:[bm] Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather,[bn] and those who are found[bo] will take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For a remnant will come out of Zion,[bp] and a band of survivors from Jerusalem.[bq] The zeal of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

33 “Therefore this what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He won’t enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield.[br] 34 By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the Lord, 35 ‘because I will defend this city and deliver[bs] it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!’”

Sennacherib is Defeated

36 After this, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah’s army[bt] awakened in the morning—there were all the dead bodies!

37 King Sennacherib broke camp, retreated, returned home to Nineveh, and remained there. 38 Later, while he was worshiping in[bu] the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with swords and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s[bv] son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38 During that time,[bw] Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. Then Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die. You won’t recover.’”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 “Please, Lord,” he said, “Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you.”[bx] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then this message[by] from the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David has to say: “I’ve heard your prayer and[bz] I’ve seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I’ll save you and this city from the[ca] king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.[cb] 7 This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will carry out this thing he has promised: 8 Watch! I will make the shadow on the steps of the upper[cc] dial of Ahaz that marks the sun go ten steps backwards.”’”

Then the sunlight turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had gone down.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

9 A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery:

10 I said, “Must I leave in the prime of my life?
    Must I be consigned to the control[cd] of Sheol?[ce]
        Bitter are[cf] my years!”
11 I said, “I won’t see the Lord[cg] in the land of the living;
    and[ch] I’ll no longer observe human beings
        among the denizens of the grave.[ci]
12 My house has been plucked up and vanishes[cj] from me
    like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver, I’ve taken account of[ck] my life,
    and he cuts me off from the loom—
        day and night you make an end of me.
13 I’ve been swept bare[cl] until morning;
    just like a lion, he breaks all my bones—
        day and night you make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp,
    I moan like a dove.
My eyes look weakly upward.
    O Lord,[cm] I am oppressed, so[cn] stand up for me!
15 What can I say, so I tell myself,[co]
    since he has done this to me?[cp]
I will walk slowly all my years
    because of my soul’s anguish.

16 “My Lord is against them, yet they live,
    and among all of them who live is his spirit.[cq]
Now you have restored me to health,
    so let me live!
17 Yes, it was for my own good
    that I suffered extreme anguish.[cr]
But in love you have held back[cs] my life
    from the Pit[ct] in which it has been confined;[cu]
you have tossed all my sins
    behind your back.
18 For Sheol[cv] cannot thank you,
    death cannot[cw] sing your praise;
and[cx] those who go down to the Pit[cy] cannot hope
    for your faithfulness.
19 The living—yes the living—they thank you,
    just as I am doing today;
fathers will tell their children
    about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,[cz]
    and we will play my music on strings
all the days of our lives
    in the Lord’s Temple.[da]

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them prepare[db] a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

22 Hezekiah also had asked, “What will be the sign for me to go up to the Lord’s Temple?”[dc]

The Visit by Merodach-baladan

39 At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, when[dd] he heard he had been sick and had survived.[de] 2 Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything in[df] his treasure-houses[dg]—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom[dh] that Hezekiah did not show them.

Isaiah Rebukes Hezekiah

3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “From a distant land—they came to me from Babylon.”

4 “What did they see in your palace?” he asked.

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah replied. “There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah told Hezekiah, “Listen to this message[di] from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies: 6 ‘The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off[dj] to Babylon. They will come in, and[dk] nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins,[dl] whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

8 “The message from the Lord that you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, “…at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 36:1 The Heb. name Hezekiah is usu. spelled Hizqiyah in 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT spell the name Hizqiyahu.
  2. Isaiah 36:2 Or sent Rab-shakeh
  3. Isaiah 36:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack very
  4. Isaiah 36:4 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsaa corrector deleted king of Judah; MT LXX lack king of Judah
  5. Isaiah 36:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack yourself
  6. Isaiah 36:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack on it
  7. Isaiah 36:5 Lit. that words alone equal
  8. Isaiah 36:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads you (sing.)
  9. Isaiah 36:7 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem’
  10. Isaiah 36:7 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsaa corrector deleted in Jerusalem; the Heb. lacks in Jerusalem
  11. Isaiah 36:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads you (sing.)
  12. Isaiah 36:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads one of
  13. Isaiah 36:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads yourself
  14. Isaiah 36:10 1QIsaa MT lack ‘s direction
  15. Isaiah 36:10 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and
  16. Isaiah 36:10 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks The Lord himself ordered me, ‘March against this country to destroy it.’
  17. Isaiah 36:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads to the field commander
  18. Isaiah 36:11 So 1QIsaa; MT reads to
  19. Isaiah 36:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack —with us—
  20. Isaiah 36:11 Lit. in these words; so 1QIsaa; MT LXX read in the Judean language
  21. Isaiah 36:11 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks sitting; cf. LXX
  22. Isaiah 36:12 So 1QIsaa (pl.); MT reads your (sing.) master and to you (sing.)
  23. Isaiah 36:13 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks the
  24. Isaiah 36:13 Or the Judean language
  25. Isaiah 36:14 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack of Assyria
  26. Isaiah 36:15 Or save
  27. Isaiah 36:15 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
  28. Isaiah 36:17 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks to
  29. Isaiah 36:18 Or saved
  30. Isaiah 36:18 Lit. the hand of the
  31. Isaiah 36:19 Lit. from my hand
  32. Isaiah 36:20 Or saved
  33. Isaiah 36:20 Lit. from my hand
  34. Isaiah 36:20 Or saved
  35. Isaiah 36:20 Lit. from my hand
  36. Isaiah 36:22 I.e. as a symbol of pending disaster
  37. Isaiah 37:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the king Hezekiah
  38. Isaiah 37:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack in this city
  39. Isaiah 37:7 Or to put a spirit
  40. Isaiah 37:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read put a spirit in him
  41. Isaiah 37:7 So MT LXX 1QIsaa corrector; 1QIsaa lacks vss. 5-7
  42. Isaiah 37:8 Lit. that he
  43. Isaiah 37:9 Lit. Now he
  44. Isaiah 37:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; cf. 2Kgs 19:9 MT; the Heb. lacks returned and
  45. Isaiah 37:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack or of Samaria
  46. Isaiah 37:14 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read it
  47. Isaiah 37:14 Lit. Hezekiah
  48. Isaiah 37:14 Lit. it
  49. Isaiah 37:18 So 1QIsaa; MT reads countries and their land; some MTmss read nations and their land
  50. Isaiah 37:19 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads work
  51. Isaiah 37:19 Lit. So they
  52. Isaiah 37:20 1QIsaa LXX MT lack oppressive
  53. Isaiah 37:20 So 1QIsaa; MT reads alone are Lord; LXX reads alone are God
  54. Isaiah 37:21 So 1QIsaa; MT reads because you prayed to me; cf. LXX
  55. Isaiah 37:24 Lit. servants
  56. Isaiah 37:25 So 1QIsaa; MT reads dug; LXX reads appointed
  57. Isaiah 37:25 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack foreign
  58. Isaiah 37:26 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and how
  59. Isaiah 37:26 So 1QIsaa; MT reads you should make fortified cities crash into ruined heaps
  60. Isaiah 37:27 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and like
  61. Isaiah 37:27 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and a field before the standing grain
  62. Isaiah 37:28 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack when you rise up and
  63. Isaiah 37:29 So 1QIsaa; MT reads because your raging against me and your insolence; cf. LXX
  64. Isaiah 37:29 Lit. lips; so 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads lip
  65. Isaiah 37:30 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks Hezekiah
  66. Isaiah 37:31 So 1QIsaa; MT reads be increased
  67. Isaiah 37:31 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and the remainder; cf. LXX
  68. Isaiah 37:32 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT LXX read Jerusalem
  69. Isaiah 37:32 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT LXX read Mount Zion
  70. Isaiah 37:33 So 1QIsaa; MT reads or shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield, or build up a siege ramp against it
  71. Isaiah 37:35 Or save
  72. Isaiah 37:36 Lit. When the people
  73. Isaiah 37:38 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks in
  74. Isaiah 37:38 Lit. his
  75. Isaiah 38:1 Lit. During those days
  76. Isaiah 38:3 Lit. done what is good in your eyes
  77. Isaiah 38:4 Lit. Then the word
  78. Isaiah 38:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks and
  79. Isaiah 38:6 Lit. the hand of the
  80. Isaiah 38:6 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake
  81. Isaiah 38:8 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks upper
  82. Isaiah 38:10 Lit. gates; i.e. the place where legal cases were adjudicated
  83. Isaiah 38:10 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
  84. Isaiah 38:10 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the rest of
  85. Isaiah 38:11 Lit. Yah; So 1QIsaa; MT reads Yah Yah; MTmss read Lord
  86. Isaiah 38:11 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
  87. Isaiah 38:11 Lit. cessation; or the end; So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss read the world
  88. Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read and has been taken away
  89. Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have rolled up
  90. Isaiah 38:13 So 1QIsaa; or I cried for help; MT reads I was composed; cf. Targ
  91. Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa MT; 1QIsab reads Lord
  92. Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks so
  93. Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads for he has spoken to me
  94. Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and it is he who has done it
  95. Isaiah 38:16 So 1QIsaa; MT reads is the life of my spirit
  96. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read bitter, bitter
  97. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads you have loved
  98. Isaiah 38:17 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
  99. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; MT reads pit of destruction
  100. Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
  101. Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa LXX; implied in 1QIsab MT
  102. Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
  103. Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
  104. Isaiah 38:20 At this point a later scribe inserted into 1QIsaa a repetition of v. 19 and the beginning of v. 20, but with some different spellings and a word missing.
  105. Isaiah 38:20 The same second scribe continued with the rest of this verse; not originally in 1QIsaa.
  106. Isaiah 38:21 So MT; LXX reads Take; 1QIsaa lacks Let them prepare
  107. Isaiah 38:22 So 1QIsab MT LXX; 1QIsaa lacks vs. 21-22; a later, third scribe, includes vs. 21-22
  108. Isaiah 39:1 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab MT; 4QIsab LXX read because
  109. Isaiah 39:1 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read had recovered
  110. Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa MTmss; the Heb. lacks in
  111. Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read treasure-house; MTqere reads his treasure-house
  112. Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa; MT reads realm; LXX lacks kingdom
  113. Isaiah 39:5 Lit. word
  114. Isaiah 39:6 So 1QIsaa (pl.); cf. LXX; 1QIsab MT (sing.)
  115. Isaiah 39:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks and
  116. Isaiah 39:7 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT read from you
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