Isaiah 36-39
1599 Geneva Bible
36 1 Sennacherib sendeth Rabshakeh to besiege Jerusalem. 15 His blasphemies against God.
1 Now [a]in the [b]fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib King of Assyria came up against all the strong cities of Judah, and took them.
2 And the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish toward Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah, with a great host, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the path of the fuller’s field.
3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah the [c]steward of the house, and Shebna [d]the chancellor, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
4 And [e]Rabshakeh said unto them, Tell you Hezekiah, I pray you, Thus saith the great king, the King of Assyria, What confidence is this, wherein thou trustest?
5 I say, [f]Surely I have eloquence, but counsel and strength are for the war: on whom then dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
6 Lo, thou trustest in this broken staff of reed, on Egypt, whereupon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is [g]Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust in him.
7 But if thou say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God, is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah took down, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8 Now therefore give hostages to my Lord the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9 For how canst thou [h]despise any captain of the [i]least of my lord’s servants? and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10 And am I now come up without the Lord to this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, [j]Go up against this land and destroy it.
11 ¶ Then said Eliakim, and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, [k]Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Aramite’s language (for we understand it) and talk not with us in the Jews’ tongue, in the audience of the people that are on the wall.
12 Then said Rabshakeh, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words, and not to the men that sit on the wall? that they may eat their own thing, and drink their own [l]piss with you?
13 So Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear the words of the great King, of the King of Assyria.
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
15 Neither let Hezekiah make you to trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [m]appointment with me, and come out to me, that every man may eat of his own vine, and every man of his own fig tree, and drink every man the water of his own well,
17 Till I come and bring you to a land like your own land, even a land of wheat and wine, a land of bread and vineyards,
18 Lest Hezekiah deceive you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where is the god of [n]Hamath, and of Arpad? where is the god of Sepharvaim? or how have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20 Who is he among all the gods of these lands, that hath delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
21 Then they [o]kept silence, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
22 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah the steward of the house, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, unto Hezekiah with rent clothes, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
37 2 Hezekiah asketh counsel of Isaiah, who promiseth him the victory. 10 The blasphemy of Sennacherib. 16 Hezekiah’s prayer. 36 The army of Sennacherib is slain of the Angel. 38 And he himself of his own sons.
1 And (A)when the King Hezekiah heard it, he [p]rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth and came into the house of the Lord.
2 And he sent Eliakim the steward of the house, and Shebna the chancellor, with the Elders of the Priests, clothed in sackcloth unto [q]Isaiah the Prophet the son of Amoz.
3 And he said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of tribulation and of rebuke and blasphemy: for the children are come to the [r]birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.
4 If so be the Lord thy God hath [s]heard the words of Rabshakeh, whom the King of Assyria his master hath sent to rail on the living God, and to reproach him with words, which the Lord thy God hath heard, then [t]lift thou up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
5 So the servants of the King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a [u]noise, and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 ¶ So Rabshakeh returned, and found the King of Assyria fighting against [v]Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 He heard also men say of Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: and when he heard it, he sent other messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah King of Judah, saying, Let not thy God [w]deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the King of Assyria.
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the Kings of Assyria have done to all lands in destroying them, and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed? as [x]Gozan, and [y]Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were at Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
14 ¶ So Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it, and he went up into the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
16 O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, which [z]dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art very God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made the heaven and the earth.
17 Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear: open thine eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to blaspheme the living God.
18 Truth it is, O Lord, that the Kings of Assyria have destroyed all lands and [aa]their country,
19 And have cast their gods in the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, even wood or stone: therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save thou us out of his hand, that [ab]all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou only art the Lord.
21 ¶ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Because thou hast prayed unto me, concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken against him, The [ac]virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whom hast thou railed on and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the [ad]holy One of Israel.
24 By thy servants hast thou railed on the Lord, and said, By the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the top of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the high cedars thereof, and the fair fir trees thereof, and I will go up to the heights of his top, and to the forest of his fruitful places.
25 I have dug, [ae]and drunk the waters, and with the plant of my feet have I dried all the rivers closed in.
26 Hast thou not heard how I have of old time made it, [af]and have formed it long ago? and should I now bring it, that it should be destroyed, and laid on ruinous heaps, as cities defensed?
27 Whose inhabitants have [ag]small power, and are afraid and confounded: they are like the grass of the field and green herb, or grass on the house tops, or corn blasted [ah]afore it be grown.
28 But I know thy dwelling, and thy [ai]going out, and thy coming in, and thy fury against me.
29 Because thou ragest against me, and thy tumult is come unto mine ears, therefore will I put mine [aj]hook in thy nostrils, and my bridle in thy lips, and will bring thee back again the same way thou [ak]camest.
30 And this shall be a [al]sign unto thee, O Hezekiah, Thou shalt eat this year such as groweth of itself: and the [am]second year such things as grow without sowing: and in the third year, sow ye and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And [an]the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it.
34 By the same way that he came, he shall return, and not come into this city, saith the Lord.
35 For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant [ao]David’s sake.
36 ¶ (B)Then the Angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of Assyria, an hundred fourscore, and five thousand: so when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went away and returned and dwelt at [ap]Nineveh.
38 And as he was in the Temple worshipping of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons slew him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of [aq]Ararat: and [ar]Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
38 1 Hezekiah is sick. 5 He is restored to health by the Lord, and liveth fifteen years after. 10 He giveth thanks for his benefit.
1 About (C)that [as]time was Hezekiah sick unto the death, and the Prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Put thine house in an order, for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then Hezekiah [at]turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
3 And said, I beseech thee, Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiah wept sore.
4 ¶ Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,
5 Go, and say unto Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6 And I will deliver thee [au]out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and this city: for I will defend this city.
7 And [av]this sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken,
8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees (whereby it is gone down in the dial of Ahaz by the [aw]sun) ten degrees backward: so the sun returned by ten degrees, by the which degrees it was gone down.
9 [ax]The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
10 I said in the [ay]cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11 I said, [az]I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I shall see man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 Mine habitation is departed, and is removed from me, like a shepherd’s tent: I [ba]have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off from the height: from day [bb]to night, thou wilt make an end of me.
13 I reckoned [bc]to the morning: but he brake all my bones like a lion, from day to night wilt thou make an end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I [bd]chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes were lifted up on high: O Lord, [be]it hath oppressed me, comfort me.
15 What shall I say, [bf]for he hath said it to me, and he hath done it: I shall walk [bg]weakly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, [bh]to them that overlive them, and to all that are in them, the life of my spirit shall be known, that thou causest me to [bi]sleep and hast given life to me.
17 Behold, for [bj]felicity I had bitter grief, but it was thy pleasure to deliver my soul from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my [bk]sins behind thy back.
18 For [bl]the grave cannot confess thee: death cannot praise thee: they that go down into the pit, cannot hope for thy truth.
19 But the living, the living, he shall confess thee, as I do this day: the father to the [bm]children shall declare thy truth.
20 The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my song, all the days of [bn]our life in the house of the Lord.
21 Then said Isaiah, Take a lump of dry figs and [bo]lay it upon the boil, and he shall recover.
22 Also Hezekiah [bp]had said, What is the sign, that I shall go up into the house of the Lord?
39 Hezekiah is reproved because he showed his treasures unto the ambassadors of Babylon.
1 At (D)the same time, [bq]Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, King of Babel, sent [br]letters, and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
2 And Hezekiah was [bs]glad of them, and showed them the house of the treasures, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures; there was nothing in his house, nor in all his kingdom that Hezekiah showed them not.
3 Then came Isaiah the Prophet unto King Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, from Babel.
4 Then said he, What have [bt]they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen; there is nothing among my treasures, that I have not showed them.
5 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts,
6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be [bu]carried to Babel: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
7 And of thy sons, that shall proceed out of thee, and which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be [bv]eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babel.
8 [bw]Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, The word of the Lord is good, which thou hast spoken: and he said, Yet let there be peace, and truth in my days.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:1 This history is rehearsed because it is as a seal and confirmation of the doctrine afore, both for the threatenings and promises: to wit, that God would suffer his Church to be afflicted, but at length would send deliverance.
- Isaiah 36:1 When he had abolished superstition, and idolatry, and restored religion, yet God would exercise his Church to try their faith and patience.
- Isaiah 36:3 For he was now restored to his office, as Isaiah had prophesied, Isa. 22:20.
- Isaiah 36:3 This declareth that there were few godly to be found in the king’s house, when he was driven to send this wicked man in such a weighty matter.
- Isaiah 36:4 Sennacherib’s chief captain.
- Isaiah 36:5 He speaketh this in the person of Hezekiah, falsely charging him that he put his trust in his wit and eloquence, whereas his only confidence was in the Lord.
- Isaiah 36:6 Satan labored to pull the godly King from one vain confidence to another: to wit, from trust in the Egyptians, whose power was weak and would deceive them, to yield himself to the Assyrians, and so not to hope for any help of God.
- Isaiah 36:9 Or, turn back.
- Isaiah 36:9 He reproacheth to Hezekiah his small power, which is not able to resist one of Sennacherib’s least captains.
- Isaiah 36:10 Thus the wicked to deceive us, will pretend the Name of the Lord: but we must try the spirits, whether they be of God or no.
- Isaiah 36:11 They were afraid, lest by his words, he should have stirred up the people against the King, and also pretended to grow to some appointment with him.
- Isaiah 36:12 Hebrew, the water of their feet.
- Isaiah 36:16 The Hebrew word signifieth blessing, whereby this wicked captain would have persuaded the people, that their condition should be better under Sennacherib than under Hezekiah.
- Isaiah 36:19 That is, of Antioch in Syria, of the which these two other cities also were: whereby we see how every town had his peculiar idol, and how the wicked make God an idol because they do not understand that God maketh them his scourge, and punisheth cities for sin.
- Isaiah 36:21 Not that they did not show by evident signs that they did detest his blasphemy: for they had now rent their clothes, but they knew it was in vain to use long reasoning with this infidel, whose rage they should have so much more provoked.
- Isaiah 37:1 In sign of grief and repentance.
- Isaiah 37:2 To have comfort of him by the word of God, that his faith might be confirmed and so his prayer be more earnest: teaching hereby that in all dangers these two are the only remedies, to seek unto God and his ministers.
- Isaiah 37:3 We are in as great sorrow as a woman that travaileth of child, and cannot be delivered.
- Isaiah 37:4 That is, will declare by effect that he hath heard it: for when God deferreth to punish, it seemeth to the flesh, that he knoweth not the sin, or heareth not the cause.
- Isaiah 37:4 Declaring that the minister’s office doth not only stand in comforting by the word, but also in praying for the people.
- Isaiah 37:7 Of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, that shall come and fight against him.
- Isaiah 37:8 Which was a city toward Egypt, thinking thereby to have stayed the force of his enemies.
- Isaiah 37:10 Thus God would have him to utter a most horrible blasphemy before his destruction: as to call the author of all truth, a deceiver: some gather hereby that Shebna had disclosed unto Sennacherib the answer that Isaiah sent to the king.
- Isaiah 37:12 Which was a city of the Medes.
- Isaiah 37:12 Called also Charre a city in Mesopotamia, whence Abraham came after his father’s death.
- Isaiah 37:16 He groundeth his prayer on God’s promise, who promised to hear them from between the Cherubims.
- Isaiah 37:18 Meaning, the ten tribes.
- Isaiah 37:20 He declareth for what cause he prayed, that they might be delivered: to wit, that God might be glorified thereby through all the world.
- Isaiah 37:22 Whom God had chosen to himself as a chaste virgin, and over whom he had care to preserve her from the lusts of the tyrant, as a father would have over his daughter.
- Isaiah 37:23 Declaring hereby that they that are enemies to God’s Church, fight against him whose quarrel his Church only maintaineth.
- Isaiah 37:25 He boasteth of his policy, in that that he can find means to nourish his army: and of his power in that that his army is so great, that it is able to dry up whole rivers, and to destroy the waters which the Jews had closed in.
- Isaiah 37:26 Signifying, that God made not his Church to destroy it, but to preserve it: and therefore he saith that he formed it of old, even in his eternal counsel which cannot be changed.
- Isaiah 37:27 Hebrew, are short in hand.
- Isaiah 37:27 He showeth that the state and power of most flourishing cities endureth but a moment in respect of the Church, which shall remain forever, because God is the maintainer thereof.
- Isaiah 37:28 Meaning, his counsels and enterprises.
- Isaiah 37:29 Because Sennacherib showed himself, as a devouring fish and furious beast, he useth these similitudes, to teach how he will take him and guide him.
- Isaiah 37:29 Thou shalt lose thy labor.
- Isaiah 37:30 God giveth signs after two sorts: some go before the thing, as the signs that Moses wrought in Egypt, which were for the confirmation of their faith, and some go after the thing, as the sacrifice, which they were commanded to make three days after their departure: and these latter are to keep the benefits of God in our remembrance: of the which sort this here is.
- Isaiah 37:30 He promiseth that for two years the ground of itself should feed them.
- Isaiah 37:31 They whom God hath delivered out of the hands of the Assyrians, shall prosper: and this properly belongeth to the Church.
- Isaiah 37:35 For my promise sake made to David.
- Isaiah 37:37 Which was the chiefest city of the Assyrians.
- Isaiah 37:38 Or, Armenia.
- Isaiah 37:38 Who was also called Sardanapalus, in whose days ten years after Sennacherib’s death the Chaldeans overcame the Assyrians by Merodach their king.
- Isaiah 38:1 Soon after that the Assyrians were slain: so that God will have the exercise of his children continually, that they may learn only to depend upon God and aspire to the heavens.
- Isaiah 38:2 For his heart was touched with fear of God’s judgment, seeing he had appointed him to die so quickly after his deliverance from so great calamity, as one unworthy to remain in that estate, and also foreseeing the great change that should come in the Church, forasmuch as he left no son to reign after him: for as yet Manasseh was not born, and when he reigned, we see what a tyrant he was.
- Isaiah 38:6 He doth not only promise to prolong his life, but to give him rest and quietness from the Assyrians, who might have renewed their army to revenge their former discomfiture.
- Isaiah 38:7 For Hezekiah had asked for the confirmation of his faith, a sign, as verse 22, and 2 Kings 20:8, whereunto he was moved by the singular motion of God’s spirit.
- Isaiah 38:8 Read 2 Kings 20:10.
- Isaiah 38:9 He left this song of his lamentation and thanksgiving to all posterity, as a monument of his own infirmity and thankful heart for God’s benefits, as David did, Ps. 51.
- Isaiah 38:10 At what time it was told me, that I should die.
- Isaiah 38:11 I shall no more praise the Lord here in this Temple among the faithful: thus God suffereth his dearest children to want his consolation for a time, that his grace afterward may the more appear when they feel their own weakness.
- Isaiah 38:12 By my sin I have provoked God to take my life from me.
- Isaiah 38:12 That is, in one day, or shortly.
- Isaiah 38:13 Over night I thought that I should live till morning, but my pangs in the night persuaded me the contrary: he showeth the horror that the faithful have when they apprehend God’s judgment against their sin.
- Isaiah 38:14 I was so oppressed with sorrow, that I was not able to utter my words, but only to groan and sigh.
- Isaiah 38:14 To wit, sorrow and grief both of the body and mind.
- Isaiah 38:15 God hath declared by his Prophet that I shall die and therefore I will yield unto him.
- Isaiah 38:15 I shall have no release, but continual sorrows while I live.
- Isaiah 38:16 They that shall overlive the men that are now alive, and all they that are in these years shall acknowledge this benefit.
- Isaiah 38:16 That after that thou hadst condemned me to death thou restoredst me to life.
- Isaiah 38:17 Whereas I thought to have lived in rest and ease being delivered from mine enemy, I had grief upon grief.
- Isaiah 38:17 He esteemeth more the remission of his sins, and God’s favor than a thousand lives.
- Isaiah 38:18 Forasmuch as God hath placed man in this world to glorify him, the godly take it as a sign of his wrath, when their days were shortened, either because that they seemed unworthy for their sins to live longer in his service, or for their zeal to God’s glory, seeing that there are so few in earth that do regard it, as Ps. 6:5; 115:17.
- Isaiah 38:19 All posterity shall acknowledge, and the fathers according to their duty toward their children shall instruct them in thy graces, and mercies toward me.
- Isaiah 38:20 He showeth what is the use of the Congregation and Church, to wit, to give the Lord thanks for his benefits.
- Isaiah 38:21 Read 2 Kings 20:7.
- Isaiah 38:22 As verse 7.
- Isaiah 39:1 This was the first king of Babylon, which overcame the Assyrians in the tenth year of his reign.
- Isaiah 39:1 Partly moved with the greatness of the miracle, partly because he showed himself enemy to his enemies, but chiefly because he would join with them whom God favored, and have their help, if occasion served.
- Isaiah 39:2 Read 2 Kings 20:13 and 2 Chron. 32:25, 31.
- Isaiah 39:4 He asketh him of the particulars, to make him understand the craft of the wicked, which he before being overcome with their flattery and blinded with ambition, could not see.
- Isaiah 39:6 By the grievousness of the punishment is declared how greatly God detested ambition and vain glory.
- Isaiah 39:7 That is, officers and servants.
- Isaiah 39:8 Read 2 Kings 20:19.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Bible Gateway Recommends
