Isaiah 37
1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent
his clothes, and 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
scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the
prophet the son of Amoz.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of
trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the
birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom
the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will
reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy
prayer for the remnant that is left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master,
Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour,
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 warring
against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come
forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to
Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not
thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be
given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to
all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers
have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which
were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and
spread it before the LORD.
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the
cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth:
thou hast made heaven and earth.
17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD,
and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the
living God.
18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the
nations, and their countries,
19 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.
20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all
the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus
saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib
king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the
daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast
thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy
One of Israel.
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By
the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the
sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice
fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the
forest of his Carmel.
25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet
have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient
times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest
be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were
dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green
herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and
thy rage against me.
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into
mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips,
and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such
as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and
in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit
thereof.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall
again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that
escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He
shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with
shields, nor cast a bank against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall
not come into this city, saith the LORD.
35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and
for my servant David's sake.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of
the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose
early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned,
and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the
sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned
in his stead.
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