Isaiah 37-38

Contemporary English Version

Hezekiah Asks Isaiah for Advice

(2 Kings 19.1-13)

37 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the Lord. ²He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell me:

³Isaiah, these are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born. ⁴Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

⁵When these leaders came to me, ⁶I told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah:

I am the Lord. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. ⁷I will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death.

⁸Meanwhile the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.

⁹About this same time, the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia^[a] was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

¹⁰Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me. ¹¹You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? ¹²The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them? ¹³The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.

Hezekiah Prays

(2 Kings 19.14-19)

¹⁴After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see. ¹⁵Then he prayed:

¹⁶^(A)Lord God All-Powerful of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures.^[b] You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world. ¹⁷Just look and see how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

¹⁸It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts. ¹⁹They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped. ²⁰But you are our Lord and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only Lord.

Isaiah Gives the Lord's Answer to Hezekiah

(2 Kings 19.20-34)

^21-22I went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:

Hezekiah, you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.^[c] Now this is what I say to that king:

The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh behind your back.

²³Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted and sneered at me,
    the holy One of Israel.
²⁴You let your officials
    insult me, the Lord.
And here is what you
    have said about yourself,
“I led my chariots
to the highest heights
    of Lebanon's mountains.
I went deep into its forest,
cutting down the best cedar
    and cypress trees.
²⁵I dried up every stream
    in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
    from wells I had dug.”

²⁶Sennacherib, now listen
    to me, the Lord.
I planned all of this long ago.
And you don't even know
    that I alone am the one
who decided that you
    would do these things.
I let you make ruins
    of fortified cities.
²⁷Their people became weak,
    terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or like tender young grass
    growing on a flat roof
or like a field of grain
    before it matures.^[d]

²⁸I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
    you are with me.
²⁹I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
    you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
    a bit in your mouth,^[e]
then I will send you back
    to where you came from.

³⁰Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year, you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. ³¹Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. ³²I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.

³³I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. ³⁴As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. ³⁵I will protect it for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.

The Death of King Sennacherib

(2 Kings 19.35-37)

³⁶The Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them all in one night. The next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. ³⁷After this, King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. ³⁸One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.^[f]

Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies

(2 Kings 20.1-11; 2 Chronicles 32.24-26)

38 About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. So I went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”

²Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, ³“Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard.

⁴Then the Lord sent me ⁵with this message for Hezekiah:

I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live 15 more years, ⁶while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria.

⁷Now I will prove to you that I will keep my promise. ⁸Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps.

Then the shadow went back ten steps.^[g]

King Hezekiah's Song of Praise

⁹This is what Hezekiah wrote after he got well:

¹⁰I thought I would die
    during my best years
and stay as a prisoner forever
    in the world of the dead.
¹¹I thought I would never again
    see you, my Lord,
or any of the people
    who live on this earth.
¹²My life was taken from me
like the tent that a shepherd
    pulls up and moves.
You cut me off like thread
    from a weaver's loom;
you make a wreck of me
    day and night.

¹³Until morning came, I thought
you would crush my bones
    just like a hungry lion;
both night and day
    you make a wreck of me.^[h]
¹⁴I cry like a swallow;
    I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are red
    from looking to you, Lord.
I am in terrible trouble.
    Please come and help me.^[i]
¹⁵There's nothing I can say
    in answer to you,
since you are the one
    who has done this to me.^[j]
My life has turned sour;
    I will limp until I die.

¹⁶Your words and your deeds
bring life to everyone,
    including me.^[k]
Please make me healthy
    and strong again.
¹⁷It was for my own good
    that I had such hard times.
But your love protected me
    from doom in the deep pit,^[l]
and you turned your eyes
    away from my sins.

¹⁸^(B) No one in the world of the dead
    can thank you or praise you;
none of those in the deep pit
can hope for you
    to show them
    how faithful you are.
¹⁹Only the living can thank you,
    as I am doing today.
Each generation tells the next
    about your faithfulness.^[m]

²⁰You, Lord, will save me,
and every day that we live
we will sing in your temple
to the music
of stringed instruments.

Isaiah's Advice to Hezekiah

²¹I had told King Hezekiah's servants to put some mashed figs on the king's open sore, and he would get well. ²²Then Hezekiah asked for proof that he would again worship in the Lord's temple.

Footnotes

37.9 Ethiopia: See the note at 11.11.
37.16 winged creatures: Two winged creatures made of gold were on the top of the sacred chest and were symbols of the Lord's throne on earth (see Exodus 25.18; 2 Samuel 6.2).
37.21,22 Hezekiah, you prayed … Assyria: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
37.27 tender young grass … matures: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some Hebrew manuscripts “tender young grass, growing on a flat roof and scorched by the heat.” Many of the houses had roofs made of packed earth. Grass would sometimes grow on the roof, but would die quickly because of the sun and hot winds.
37.29 I will put … your mouth: This is how the Assyrians treated their prisoners, and now the Lord will treat Sennacherib the same way.
37.38 Esarhaddon became king: He ruled Assyria 681–669 b.c.
38.8 steps: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 8.
38.13 of me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
38.14 help me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
38.15 There's … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
38.16 Your … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
38.17 deep pit: The world of the dead, as in verse 18.
38.19 about your faithfulness: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.