Isaiah 36:1-7

New International Version

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(A)

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s^(B) reign, Sennacherib^(C) king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.^(D) ²Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish^(E) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,^(F) ³Eliakim^(G) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,^(H) Shebna^(I) the secretary,^(J) and Joah^(K) son of Asaph the recorder^(L) went out to him.

⁴The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ⁵You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel^(M) against me? ⁶Look, I know you are depending^(N) on Egypt,^(O) that splintered reed^(P) of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ⁷But if you say to me, “We are depending^(Q) on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,^(R) saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?^(S)

Read full chapter

Isaiah 37:1-7

New International Version

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold^(A)

37 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes^(B) and put on sackcloth^(C) and went into the temple^(D) of the Lord. ²He sent Eliakim^(E) the palace administrator, Shebna^(F) the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.^(G) ³They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress^(H) and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth^(I) and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^(J) the living God,^(K) and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard.^(L) Therefore pray^(M) for the remnant^(N) that still survives.”

⁵When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid^(O) of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^(P) me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report,^(Q) I will make him want^(R) to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down^(S) with the sword.’”