Isaiah 37

Revised Geneva Translation

37 And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and came into the House of the LORD.

² And he sent Eliakim (the steward of the house), and Shebna (the chancellor), with the elders of the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz.

³ And he said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of tribulation and of rebuke and blasphemy. For the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.

⁴ ‘If so be the LORD your God has heard the words of Rabshakeh—whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to rail on the living God, and to reproach him with words which the LORD your God has heard—then lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶ And Isaiah said to them, “Say this to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷ “Behold, I will send a blast upon him. And he shall hear a noise and 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 Assyria fighting against Libnah (for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish).

⁹ He also heard men say of Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, King of Judah, saying, ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall 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 in destroying them. And shall you be delivered?

¹² ‘Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, such as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden, who were at Telassar?

¹³ ‘Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah?’”

¹⁴ So Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And he went up into the House of the LORD. And Hezekiah spread it before the LORD.

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

¹⁶ “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, Who dwells between the Cherubims. You are God—You alone—over all the kingdoms of the Earth. You have made Heaven and Earth.

¹⁷ “Incline Your Ear, O LORD, and hear. Open Your Eyes, O LORD, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to blaspheme the living God.

¹⁸ “It is true, O LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all lands, and their country,

¹⁹ “and have cast their gods in the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood or stone. Therefore, they destroyed them.

²⁰ “Now, therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the Earth may know that You only are the LORD.”

²¹ Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib, King of Assyria,

²² ‘this is the Word that the LORD has spoken against him, “The virgin, the Daughter of Zion, has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The Daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²³ “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against Whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴ “By your servants you have reproached the LORD, and said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down its high cedars and its fair fir trees. And I will go up to the heights of its top, to the forest of its fruitful places.

²⁵ ‘I have dug and drunk the waters. And with the soles of my feet I have dried all the rivers of Egypt.’

²⁶ “Have you not heard how I have made it in ancient times, and have formed it long ago? And should I now bring it to pass that it be destroyed on ruinous heaps, as defensed cities,

²⁷ “whose inhabitants have little power, and are afraid and confounded? They are like the grass of the field and green herbs, grass on the house tops, or grain blasted before it is grown.

²⁸ “But I know your dwelling, and your going out, and your coming in, and your fury against Me.

²⁹ “Because you rage against Me, and your tumult has come to My Ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nostrils, and my bridle in your lips, and will bring you back the same way you came.

³⁰ “And this shall be a sign to you. This year, you shall eat whatever grows by itself, and the second year whatever grows without sowing. And in the third year, sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

³¹ “And the remnant that has escaped of the House of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

³² “For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts shall do this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it.

³⁴ ‘By the same way that he came, he shall return, and not come into this city,’ says the LORD.

³⁵ “For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant, David’s, sake.”’”

³⁶ Then the Angel of the LORD went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. So, when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

³⁷ So, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, departed and went away and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.

³⁸ And as he was in the temple, worshiping Nisroch, his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.