Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19 ^(A)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, ^(B)he tore his clothes and ^(C)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, ^(D)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ^4 (E)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(F)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(G)the remnant that is left.” ⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which ^(H)the servants of the king of Assyria have ^(I)reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(J)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him ^(K)fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(L)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(M)Lachish. ^9 (N)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God ^(O)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(P)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (Q)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(R)Gozan, ^(S)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(T)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (U)Where 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?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(V)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(W)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(X)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ^16 (Y)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(Z)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(AA)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(AB)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(AC)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(AD)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria ^(AE)I have heard. ²¹ This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ “And this shall be ^(AV)the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ^30 (AW)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion ^(AX)a band of survivors. ^(AY)The zeal of the Lord will do this.

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or ^(AZ)cast up a siege mound against it. ^33 (BA)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^34 (BB)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake ^(BC)and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵ And that night ^(BD)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(BE)Nineveh. ³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(BF)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(BG)In those days ^(BH)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(BI)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Now, O Lord, ^(BJ)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(BK)with a whole heart, ^(BL)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(BM)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(BN)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(BO)I have heard your prayer; ^(BP)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(BQ)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(BR)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(BS)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(BT)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

^12 (BU)At that time ^(BV)Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(BW)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them ^(BX)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when ^(BY)all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ^18 (BZ)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, ^(CA)and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(CB)“The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

^20 (CC)The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made ^(CD)the pool and the conduit ^(CE)and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (CF)And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Beth

God's Righteousness Upheld

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ² Much in every way. To begin with, ^(A)the Jews were entrusted with ^(B)the oracles of God. ^3 (C)What if some were unfaithful? ^(D)Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴ By no means! ^(E)Let God be true though ^(F)every one were a liar, as it is written,

⁵ But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict ^(I)wrath on us? (^(J)I speak in a human way.) ⁶ By no means! For then how could ^(K)God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, ^(L)why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸ And why not ^(M)do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we Jews^[a] any better off?^[b] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(N)Jews and ^(O)Greeks, are ^(P)under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(Y)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(Z)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(AA)the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For ^(AB)by works of the law no human being^[c] will be justified in his sight, since ^(AC)through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

²¹ But now ^(AD)the righteousness of God ^(AE)has been manifested apart from the law, although ^(AF)the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God ^(AG)through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. ^(AH)For there is no distinction: ²³ for ^(AI)all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 (AJ)and are justified ^(AK)by his grace as a gift, ^(AL)through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God ^(AM)put forward as ^(AN)a propitiation ^(AO)by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in ^(AP)his divine forbearance he had passed over ^(AQ)former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

^27 (AR)Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith ^(AS)apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or ^(AT)is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since ^(AU)God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and ^(AV)the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.