Isaiah 36-37
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Sennacherib’s Invasion
36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,(A) Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, along with a massive army, from Lachish(B) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller’s Field.(C) 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,(D) and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?[a] 5 I[b] say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?(E) 6 Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff(F) that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.(G) 7 Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?(H)
8 Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! 9 How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?(I) 10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,(J) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew[c] within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:[d]
Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you,(K) for he cannot deliver you. 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly deliver us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”
16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace[e] with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree(L) and drink water from his own cistern 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’(M) Has any one of the gods of the nations(N) delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?(O) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power?(P) 20 Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the Lord deliver Jerusalem.”
21 But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”(Q) 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel
37 When King Hezekiah heard their report,(R) he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth,(S) and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace,(T) for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.(U) 4 Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,(V) and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”(W)
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6 who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid(X) because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with.(Y) 7 I am about to put a spirit(Z) in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”(AA)
Sennacherib’s Letter
8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,(AB) he returned and found him fighting against Libnah.(AC) 9 The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush:(AD) “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you(AE) by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations(AF) that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan,(AG) Haran,(AH) Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.(AI) 15 Then Hezekiah prayed(AJ) to the Lord:
16 Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim,(AK) You are God(AL)—You alone(AM)—of all the kingdoms of the earth.(AN) You made the heavens and the earth.(AO) 17 Listen closely, Lord, and hear;(AP) open Your eyes, Lord, and see.(AQ) Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.(AR) 18 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods(AS) but made by human hands(AT)—wood and stone.(AU) So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord(AV)—You alone.(AW)
God’s Answer through Hezekiah
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion(AX)
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head(AY)
behind your back.[f]
23 Who is it you have mocked(AZ) and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride?(BA)
Against the Holy One of Israel!(BB)
24 You have mocked the Lord through[g] your servants.
You have said, “With my many chariots(BC)
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its distant heights,
its densest forest.
25 I dug wells[h] and drank water.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.”(BD)
26 Have you not heard?(BE)
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.(BF)
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities(BG)
into piles of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind.[i]
28 But I know[j] your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in,(BH)
and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance have reached My ears,(BI)
I will put My hook in your nose(BJ)
and My bit in your mouth;(BK)
I will make you go back
the way you came.
30 “‘This will be the sign for you:(BL) This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root(BM) downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For a remnant(BN) will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’(BO)
33 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.
34 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36 Then(BR) the angel of the Lord(BS) went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.(BT)
38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.(BU) Then his son Esar-haddon(BV) became king in his place.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:4 Lit What is this trust that you trust
- Isaiah 36:5 DSS read You
- Isaiah 36:11 Lit Judahite
- Isaiah 36:13 Lit Judahite
- Isaiah 36:16 Lit a blessing
- Isaiah 37:22 Lit behind you
- Isaiah 37:24 Lit by the hand of
- Isaiah 37:25 DSS add in foreign lands
- Isaiah 37:27 DSS; MT reads rooftops, field before standing grain
- Isaiah 37:28 DSS read know your rising up and
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