Isaiah 36-38
Amplified Bible
Sennacherib Invades Judah
36 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.(A) 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh [his military commander] from Lachish [the Judean fortress commanding the road from Egypt] to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a large army. And he stood by the canal of the Upper Pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recording historian, came out to [meet] him.
4 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says, “What is [the reason for] this confidence that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only [a]empty words.’ Now in whom do you trust and on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?(B) 6 Listen carefully, you rely on the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in and rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?(C) 8 So now, exchange pledges with my master the king of Assyria and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse [the attack of] a single [b]commander of the least of my master’s servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have now come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”
11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please, speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it; and do not speak to us in Judean (Hebrew) in the hearing of the people who are [stationed] on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean (Hebrew): “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 This is what the king says, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to rescue you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will most certainly rescue us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me and come out to me, and each one of you will eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree and each [one of you] drink from the water of 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 rescue us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations [ever] rescued his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad [in Aram]? Where are the gods of [c]Sepharvaim? And when have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their land from my hand, that [you should think that] the Lord would rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’”
21 But they kept silent and did not say a word to him in reply, for King Hezekiah’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recording historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn [in grief], and told him the words of the Rabshakeh [the Assyrian commander].
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help
37 And when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.(D) 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh [the commander], whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left.’”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, “You shall say the following to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Listen carefully, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
8 So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah], for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 And Sennacherib king of Assyria, heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush (Ethiopia), “He has come out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “You shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Listen carefully, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, utterly destroying them. So will you be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed rescue them—[d]Gozan, Haran [of Mesopotamia], Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad [of northern Syria], the king of the city of Sepharvaim, [the king of] Hena, or [the king of] Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple
14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.(E) 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt and defy the living God. 18 It is true, O Lord, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast the gods [of those peoples] into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 20 Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and fully realize that You alone, Lord, are [e]God.”
God Answers through Isaiah
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “For the Lord, the God of Israel says this, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,(F) 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:
“She has shown contempt for you and mocked you,
The Virgin Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem);
She has shaken her head behind you,
The Daughter of Jerusalem!
23
“Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24
“Through your servants you have taunted and defied the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypress trees;
And I will go to its remotest height, its most luxuriant and thickest forest.
25
‘I dug wells and drank [foreign] waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals [of the Nile] of Egypt.’
26
“Have you not heard [says the God of Israel]
That I did it long ago,
That I planned it in ancient times?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you [king of Assyria] would [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
27
“Therefore their inhabitants had little power,
They were terrorized and shamed;
They were like the grass of the field and the green vegetation,
Like grass on the housetops and like a field [of grain] scorched before it is grown.
28
“But I know your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in [every detail of your life],
And your raging against Me.
29
“Because your raging against Me
And your arrogance has come up to My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your [f]mouth,
And I will turn you back by the way you came.
30 “This shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: you are to eat this year [g]what grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same, and in the third year you are to sow and harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”’
33 “Therefore, the Lord says this concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with shield, or raise an assault ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same way he will return, and he will not come into this city,’ declares the Lord. 35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Assyrians Destroyed
36 And the [h]angel of the Lord went out and [i]struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the [surviving] men got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead.(G) 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and lived at Nineveh. 38 It came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat [in Armenia]. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
Hezekiah Healed
38 In those days Hezekiah [king of Judah] became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said, “For the Lord says this, ‘Set your house in order and prepare a will, for you shall die; you will not live.’”(H) 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, just remember how I have walked before You in faithfulness and truth, and with a whole heart [absolutely devoted to You], and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept greatly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘For the Lord, the God of David your father says this, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; listen carefully, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city [Jerusalem].”’
7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: 8 Listen carefully, I will turn the shadow on the stairway [denoting the time of day] ten steps backward, the shadow on the stairway ([j]sundial) of Ahaz.” And the sunlight went ten steps backward on the stairway where it had [previously] gone down.
9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10
I said, “In mid-life
I am to go through the gates of Sheol (the place of the dead),
I am to be summoned, deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11
I said, “I will not see the Lord
The Lord in the land of the living;
I will no longer see man among the inhabitants of the world.
12
“My dwelling (body) is pulled up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent;
I have rolled up my life as a weaver [rolls up the finished web].
He cuts me free from the warp [of the loom];
From day to night You bring me to an end.
13
“I lay down until morning.
Like a lion, so He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You bring me to an end.
14
“Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirp;
I coo like a dove.
My eyes look wistfully upward;
O Lord, I am oppressed, take my side and be my security.
15
“What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander aimlessly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16
“O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
Restore me to health and let me live!
17
“Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness;
But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction),
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18
“For Sheol cannot praise or thank You,
Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19
“It is the living who give praise and thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20
“The Lord is ready to save me;
Therefore we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our lives at the house of the Lord.”
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs and rub it [as an ointment] on the inflamed spot, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:5 Lit a word of lips.
- Isaiah 36:9 Lit governor.
- Isaiah 36:19 An area from which the Assyrians brought colonists to inhabit Samaria, the capital city of the ten northern tribes of Israel, after it was evacuated.
- Isaiah 37:12 The place-names in this verse are all found on the Assyrian monuments. For further information, see E.S. Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, and his comments on 2 Kin 19:12.
- Isaiah 37:20 So DSS and 2 Kin 19:19; MT omits God.
- Isaiah 37:29 Lit lips.
- Isaiah 37:30 Called “second growth,” this ordinarily referred to uncultivated produce that grew during the Sabbath year (when sowing was forbidden) from seed that fell outside the boundaries of the field the preceding year.
- Isaiah 37:36 See note Gen 16:7.
- Isaiah 37:36 This is the fulfillment of the prophecy made in Is 31:8, 9. See also 10:33, 34; 14:25; 17:14; 30:31.
- Isaiah 38:8 Some suggest that this stairway was built to serve as a sundial; others think that it was just a stairway whose design happened to function as a kind of sundial. The Hebrew word simply means “ascent,” which can be a stair or a stairway. If it was fully exposed to the sun, the shadow must have been cast by some object, such as a pole. Otherwise, if it was covered, then perhaps there was an opening through which the sun shone and illuminated part of the stairway.
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