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Isaiah 36-37
Contemporary English Version
Isaiah 36-37
Contemporary English Version
The Assyrians Surround Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18.13-27; 2 Chronicles 32.1-19)
36 Hezekiah had been king of Judah for 14 years when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city 2 except Jerusalem. The Assyrian king ordered his army commander to leave the city of Lachish and to take a large army to Jerusalem.
The commander went there and stood on the road near the cloth makers' shops along the canal from the upper pool. 3 Three of the king's highest officials came out of Jerusalem to meet him. One of them was Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.
4 The Assyrian commander told them:
I have a message for Hezekiah from the great king of Assyria. Ask Hezekiah why he feels so sure of himself. 5 Does he think he can plan and win a war with nothing but words? Who is going to help him, now that he has turned against the king of Assyria? 6 (A) Is he depending on Egypt and its king? That's the same as leaning on a broken stick, and it will go right through his hand.
7 Is Hezekiah now depending on the Lord, your God? Didn't Hezekiah tear down all except one of the Lord's altars and places of worship?[a] Didn't he tell the people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship at that one place?
8 The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people! He will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. 9 How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? 10 Don't forget that it was the Lord who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation!
11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, “Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.”
12 The Assyrian army commander answered, “My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you!”
13 Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted out in Hebrew:
Listen to what the great king of Assyria says! 14 Don't be fooled by Hezekiah. He can't save you. 15 Don't trust him when he tells you that the Lord will protect you from the king of Assyria. 16 Stop listening to Hezekiah. Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns 17 for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards and raise your own grain.
18 Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him. Were any other gods able to defend their land against the king of Assyria? 19 What happened to the gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim? Were the gods of Samaria able to protect their land against the Assyrian forces? 20 None of those gods kept their people safe from the king of Assyria. Do you think the Lord, your God, can do any better?
21-22 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah had been warned by King Hezekiah not to answer the Assyrian commander. So they tore their clothes in sorrow and reported to Hezekiah everything the commander had said.
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. 2 He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell me:
3 Isaiah, 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. 4 Please 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.
5 When these leaders came to me, 6 I 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. 7 I 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.
8 Meanwhile 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.
9 About this same time, the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia[b] was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:
10 Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me. 11 You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? 12 The 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? 13 The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.
Hezekiah Prays
(2 Kings 19.14-19)
14 After 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. 15 Then he prayed:
16 (B)Lord God All-Powerful of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures.[c] You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world. 17 Just look and see how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.
18 It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts. 19 They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped. 20 But 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)
21-22 I went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:
Hezekiah, you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.[d] Now this is what I say to that king:
The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh behind your back.
23 Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted and sneered at me,
the holy One of Israel.
24 You 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.
25 I dried up every stream
in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
from wells I had dug.”
26 Sennacherib, 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.
27 Their 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.[e]
28 I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
you are with me.
29 I 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,[f]
then I will send you back
to where you came from.
30 Hezekiah, 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. 31 Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. 32 I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.
33 I 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. 34 As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. 35 I 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)
36 The 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. 37 After this, King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. 38 One 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.[g]
Footnotes
- 36.7 worship: Hezekiah actually had torn down the places where idols were worshiped, and he had told the people to worship the Lord at the one place of worship in Jerusalem. But the Assyrian leader was confused and thought these were also places where the Lord was supposed to be worshiped.
- 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.
Isaiah 36-37
New International Version
Isaiah 36-37
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) 2 Then 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) 3 Eliakim(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.
4 The 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? 5 You 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? 6 Look, 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. 7 But 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)
8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses(T)—if you can put riders on them! 9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt(U) for chariots(V) and horsemen[a]?(W) 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told(X) me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah(Y) said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,(Z) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?(AA)”
13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,(AB) “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!(AC) 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive(AD) you. He cannot deliver you! 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver(AE) us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’(AF)
16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree(AG) and drink water from your own cistern,(AH) 17 until I come and take you to a land like your own(AI)—a land of grain and new wine,(AJ) a land of bread and vineyards.
18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?(AK) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?(AL) Have they rescued Samaria(AM) from my hand? 20 Who of all the gods(AN) of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”(AO)
21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”(AP)
22 Then Eliakim(AQ) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder(AR) went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,(AS) and told him what the field commander had said.
Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold(AT)
37 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes(AU) and put on sackcloth(AV) and went into the temple(AW) of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim(AX) the palace administrator, Shebna(AY) the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.(AZ) 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress(BA) and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth(BB) and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It 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(BC) the living God,(BD) and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard.(BE) Therefore pray(BF) for the remnant(BG) that still survives.”
5 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid(BH) of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed(BI) me. 7 Listen! When he hears a certain report,(BJ) I will make him want(BK) to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down(BL) with the sword.’”
8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,(BM) he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.(BN)
9 Now Sennacherib(BO) received a report(BP) that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,[b](BQ) was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive(BR) you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’(BS) 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?(BT) 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors(BU) deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran,(BV) Rezeph and the people of Eden(BW) who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad?(BX) Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim,(BY) Hena and Ivvah?”(BZ)
Hezekiah’s Prayer(CA)
14 Hezekiah received the letter(CB) from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple(CC) of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed(CD) to the Lord: 16 “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned(CE) between the cherubim,(CF) you alone are God(CG) over all the kingdoms(CH) of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.(CI) 17 Give ear, Lord, and hear;(CJ) open your eyes, Lord, and see;(CK) listen to all the words Sennacherib(CL) has sent to ridicule(CM) the living God.(CN)
18 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.(CO) 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire(CP) and destroyed them,(CQ) for they were not gods(CR) but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.(CS) 20 Now, Lord our God, deliver(CT) us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth(CU) may know that you, Lord, are the only God.[c](CV)”
Sennacherib’s Fall(CW)
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz(CX) sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
“Virgin Daughter(CY) Zion(CZ)
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head(DA) as you flee.
23 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?(DB)
Against whom have you raised your voice(DC)
and lifted your eyes in pride?(DD)
Against the Holy One(DE) of Israel!
24 By your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
‘With my many chariots(DF)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights(DG) of Lebanon.(DH)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its junipers.(DI)
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
25 I have dug wells in foreign lands[d]
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up(DJ) all the streams of Egypt.(DK)’
26 “Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained(DL) it.
In days of old I planned(DM) it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.(DN)
27 Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass(DO) sprouting on the roof,(DP)
scorched[e] before it grows up.
28 “But I know where you are
and when you come and go(DQ)
and how you rage(DR) against me.
29 Because you rage against me
and because your insolence(DS) has reached my ears,
I will put my hook(DT) in your nose(DU)
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.(DV)
30 “This will be the sign(DW) for you, Hezekiah:
“This year(DX) you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year(DY) sow and reap,
plant vineyards(DZ) and eat their fruit.(EA)
31 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root(EB) below and bear fruit(EC) above.
32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,(ED)
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.(EE)
The zeal(EF) of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
33 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city(EG)
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp(EH) against it.
34 By the way that he came he will return;(EI)
he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
35 “I will defend(EJ) this city and save it,
for my sake(EK) and for the sake of David(EL) my servant!”
36 Then the angel(EM) of the Lord went out and put to death(EN) a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian(EO) camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib(EP) king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh(EQ) and stayed there.
38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple(ER) of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat.(ES) And Esarhaddon(ET) his son succeeded him as king.(EU)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:9 Or charioteers
- Isaiah 37:9 That is, the upper Nile region
- Isaiah 37:20 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kings 19:19); Masoretic Text you alone are the Lord
- Isaiah 37:25 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kings 19:24); Masoretic Text does not have in foreign lands.
- Isaiah 37:27 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text roof / and terraced fields
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