Blessings for Obedience

26 “You shall not make ^(A)idols for yourselves or erect an ^(B)image or ^(C)pillar, and you shall not set up a ^(D)figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. ^2 (E)You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

^3 (F)“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, ⁴ then ^(G)I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ^5 (H)Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And ^(I)you shall eat your bread to the full and ^(J)dwell in your land securely. ^6 (K)I will give peace in the land, and ^(L)you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And ^(M)I will remove harmful beasts from the land, ^(N)and the sword shall not go through your land. ⁷ You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. ^8 (O)Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ^9 (P)I will turn to you and ^(Q)make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You shall eat ^(R)old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. ^11 (S)I will make my dwelling^[a] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. ^12 (T)And I ^(U)will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^13 (V)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. ^(W)And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(A)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(B)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(C)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ^16 (D)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(E)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(F)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(G)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(H)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(I)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria ^(J)I have heard. ²¹ This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ “And this shall be ^(AA)the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ^30 (AB)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion ^(AC)a band of survivors. ^(AD)The zeal of the Lord will do this.

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or ^(AE)cast up a siege mound against it. ^33 (AF)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^34 (AG)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake ^(AH)and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵ And that night ^(AI)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(AJ)Nineveh. ³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(AK)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

¹⁵ that their hearts may melt, and many stumble.^[a] At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; ^(A)it is taken up^[b] for slaughter. ¹⁶ Cut sharply to the right; set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed. ¹⁷ I also will ^(B)clap my hands, ^(C)and I will satisfy my fury; ^(D)I the Lord have spoken.”

¹⁸ The word of the Lord came to me again: ¹⁹ “As for you, son of man, mark two ways for ^(E)the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make ^(F)a signpost; make it ^(G)at the head of the way to a city. ²⁰ Mark a way ^(H)for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands ^(I)at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults ^(J)the teraphim;^[c] he looks at the liver. ²² Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, ^(K)to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, ^(L)to cast up mounds, to build siege towers. ²³ But to them it will seem like a false divination. ^(M)They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, ^(N)that they may be taken.

²⁴ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, ^(O)you shall be taken in hand. ²⁵ And you, O profane^{[d] (P)}wicked one, prince of Israel, ^(Q)whose day has come, ^(R)the time of your final punishment, ²⁶ thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. ^(S)Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. ²⁷ A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. ^(T)This also shall not be, ^(U)until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.

²⁸ “And you, ^(V)son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God ^(W)concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, ^(X)A sword, a sword ^(Y)is drawn for the slaughter. ^(Z)It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning— ²⁹ while ^(AA)they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, ^(AB)whose day has come, the time of their final punishment. ^30 (AC)Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, ^(AD)I will judge you. ³¹ And ^(AE)I will pour out my indignation upon you; ^(AF)I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of ^(AG)brutish men, skillful to destroy. ³² You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. ^(AH)You shall be no more remembered, ^(AI)for I the Lord have spoken.”

Return of an Unclean Spirit

^24 (A)“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through ^(B)waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And ^(C)the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

True Blessedness

²⁷ As he said these things, ^(D)a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ^(E)“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” ²⁸ But he said, ^(F)“Blessed rather are those ^(G)who hear the word of God and ^(H)keep it!”

The Sign of Jonah

^29 (I)When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ^(J)“This generation is an evil generation. ^(K)It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For as ^(L)Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ^31 (M)The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and ^(N)condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, ^(O)something greater than Solomon is here. ^32 (P)The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and ^(Q)condemn it, for ^(R)they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, ^(S)something greater than Jonah is here.

²³ Are they ^(A)servants of Christ? ^(B)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^(C)far more imprisonments, ^(D)with countless beatings, and ^(E)often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^(F)forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(G)beaten with rods. ^(H)Once I was stoned. Three times I ^(I)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^(J)danger from my own people, ^(K)danger from Gentiles, ^(L)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ^27 (M)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^(N)in hunger and thirst, often without food,^[a] in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^(O)all the churches. ^29 (P)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

^30 (Q)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ^31 (R)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(S)he who is blessed forever, ^(T)knows that I am not lying. ³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^(U)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ^33 (V)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.