The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

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- Chapter 37 -

(2 Kings 19:1–7)

When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough sackcloth because he was very distressed. Then he went into the temple of Yahweh and prayed.

Then he sent Eliakim, Shebna, and the older priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, to talk to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.

They told him, say this to Isaiah: ’King Hezekiah says that this is a day when we have great distress. Other nations are insulting and shaming us. We are like a woman who is about to give birth to a baby, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it.

But perhaps Yahweh our God has heard what the official from Assyria said. Perhaps God knows that the king of Assyria has sent his official to insult him, the all-powerful God. Perhaps Yahweh will punish the king of Assyria for what he said. And I, Hezekiah, request that you pray for the few of us who are still alive here in Jerusalem.’”

After those men gave Isaiah that message,

he told them to say to the king that Yahweh says: Those lackeys from the king of Assyria have said evil things about me. But do not let them worry you.

Listen to this: I will make Sennacherib hear some news from his own country that will worry him very much. So he will go back there, and I will make other men to assassinate him with their swords.”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

(2 Kings 19:8–13)

The official from Assyria learned that his king and the army of Assyria had left the city of Lachish and were now attacking Libnah, a nearby city. So the official left Jerusalem and went to Libnah to report to the king what had happened in Jerusalem.

Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army to attack them. So he sent other messengers to Hezekiah with a letter. In the letter he wrote this to Hezekiah:

“Do not allow your god, on whom you are relying, to deceive you by promising that he will keep my army from capturing Jerusalem.”

You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria before me did to all the other countries; our armies destroyed them completely. So you really do not think that you will escape from me, do you?

Did the gods of those nations rescue them? Did they rescue the region of Gozan, or the cities of Haran and Rezeph in northern Aram, or the people of the region of Eden in the city of Tel Assar?

What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did their gods rescue them?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

(2 Kings 19:14–19)

Hezekiah received the letter that the messengers gave him, and he read it. Then he went up to the temple and spread out the letter in front of Yahweh.

Then Hezekiah prayed this:

“Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, the God to whom we Israelites belong, you are seated on your throne above the statues of the cherubim, above the sacred chest. Only you are truly God. You rule all the kingdoms on this earth. You are the one who created everything on the earth and in the sky.

So, Yahweh, please listen to what I am saying, and look at what is happening! And listen to what Sennacherib has said to insult you, the all-powerful God!

Yahweh, it is true that the armies of the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations and ruined their land.

And they have thrown all the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But they were not really gods. They were only idols made of wood and stone, and that is why they were able to be destroyed.

So now, Yahweh our God, please rescue us from the power of the king of Assyria, in order that the people in all the kingdoms of the world may know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is truly God.”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied

(2 Kings 19:20–34)

Then Isaiah sent a message to tell Hezekiah that Yahweh, whom the Israelites worshiped, said this to him: “Because you prayed about what King Sennacherib of Assyria said,

this is what I say to him: ’The people of Jerusalem despise you and make fun of you. They will wag their heads to mock you while you flee from here.

Who do you think you have been despising and ridiculing? Who do you think you were shouting at? Who do you think you were looking at very proudly? It was I, the Holy One whom the Israelites worship!

The messengers whom you sent made fun of me. You said, “With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains, to the highest mountains in Lebanon. We have cut down its tallest cedar trees and its nicest pine trees. We have been to the most distant peaks and to its densest forests.

We have dug wells in many countries and drunk water from them. And by marching through the streams of Egypt, we dried them all up!”

But I reply to him, ’Have you never heard that long ago I determined those things; I planned it long ago, and now I have been causing it to occur. I planned that your army would destroy cities and cause them to become piles of rubble.

The people in those cities have no power, and as a result they are dismayed and discouraged. They are as frail as grass and plants in the fields, as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses and is scorched by the hot east wind.

But I know everything about you; I know when you are in your house and when you go outside; I also know that you are raging against me.

So because you have raged against me and because I have heard you speak very proudly, it will be as though I will put a hook in your nose and an iron bit in your mouth in order that I can take you where I wish, and I will force you to return to your own country, on the same road on which you came here, without conquering Jerusalem.’”

“This will prove to you, Hezekiah that it is I, Yahweh, who will make all this happen: This year, you will eat only the crops that grow by themselves, and next year the same thing will happen. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will take care of your vineyards and eat the grapes.

You people who are still here in Judah, will be strong and prosper again.

A small number of my people will survive, and they will spread out from Jerusalem. That will happen because Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, is desiring very much to accomplish it.”

“This is what Yahweh says about the king of Assyria: ’His armies will not enter Jerusalem; they will not even shoot a single arrow into it. His soldiers will not bring one shield up to Jerusalem, and they will not build high mounds of dirt against the walls of the city to enable them to attack the city.

Instead, their king will return to his own country on the same road on which he came here. He will not enter this city! That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said it!

For the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised King David, who served me well, I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed.’”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

(2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)

That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had set up their tents and killed 185,000 of their soldiers. When the rest of the soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere.

Then King Sennacherib left and returned home to Nineveh in Assyria and stayed there.

One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his two sons, Adrammelek and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to the region of Ararat northwest of Nineveh. And another of Sennacherib’s sons, Esarhaddon, became the king of Assyria.

(2 Kings 19:1–7)

When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s house.

He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘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.

It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The LORD says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

(2 Kings 19:8–13)

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.

He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

(2 Kings 19:14–19)

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s house, and spread it before the LORD.

Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

“LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, 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.

Turn your ear, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,

and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

Now therefore, LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only.”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied

(2 Kings 19:20–34)

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “The LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

By your servants, you have defied the 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.

I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”

“‘Have you not heard 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.

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.

But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.

Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will 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.

“‘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 it; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will perform this.’

“Therefore the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘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.

He will return the way that he came, and he won’t come to this city,’ says the LORD.

‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

(2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)

Then the LORD’s angel 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.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.

As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, 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.