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Isaiah 35-36
Contemporary English Version
Isaiah 35-36
Contemporary English Version
God's Splendor Will Be Seen
35 Thirsty deserts will be glad;
barren lands will celebrate
and blossom with flowers.
2 Deserts will bloom everywhere
and sing joyful songs.
They will be as majestic
as Mount Lebanon,
as glorious as Mount Carmel
or Sharon Valley.
Everyone will see
the wonderful splendor
of the Lord our God.
God Changes Everything
* 3 (A) Here is a message for all
who are weak, trembling,
and worried:
4 “Cheer up! Don't be afraid.
Your God is coming
to punish your enemies.
God will take revenge on them
and rescue you.”
5 (B) The blind will see,
and the ears of the deaf
will be healed.
6 (C) Those who were lame
will leap around like deer;
tongues once silent
will shout for joy.
Water will rush
through the desert.
7 Scorching sand
will turn into a lake,
and thirsty ground
will flow with fountains.
Grass will grow in deserts,
where packs of wild dogs
once made their home.[a]
God's Sacred Highway
8 A good road will be there,
and it will be named
“God's Sacred Highway.”
It will be for God's people;
no one unfit to worship God
will walk on that road.
And no fools can travel
on that highway.[b]
9 No lions or other wild animals
will come near that road;
only those the Lord has saved
will travel there.
10 The people the Lord has rescued
will come back singing
as they enter Zion.
Happiness will be a crown
everyone will always wear.
They will celebrate and shout
because all sorrows and worries
will be gone far away.
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 (D) 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?[c] 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.
Footnotes
- 35.7 Grass … home: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 35.8 And … highway: Or “And not even a fool can miss that highway.”
- 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.
Isaiah 35-36
New International Version
Isaiah 35-36
New International Version
Joy of the Redeemed
35 The desert(A) and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.(B)
Like the crocus,(C) 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.(D)
The glory of Lebanon(E) will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel(F) and Sharon;(G)
they will see the glory(H) of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.(I)
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees(J) that give way;
4 say(K) to those with fearful hearts,(L)
“Be strong, do not fear;(M)
your God will come,(N)
he will come with vengeance;(O)
with divine retribution
he will come to save(P) you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened(Q)
and the ears of the deaf(R) unstopped.
6 Then will the lame(S) leap like a deer,(T)
and the mute tongue(U) shout for joy.(V)
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams(W) in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground(X) bubbling springs.(Y)
In the haunts where jackals(Z) once lay,
grass and reeds(AA) and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway(AB) will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;(AC)
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean(AD) will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion(AE) will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;(AF)
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed(AG) will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued(AH) will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;(AI)
everlasting joy(AJ) will crown their heads.
Gladness(AK) and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.(AL)
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem(AM)
36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s(AN) reign, Sennacherib(AO) king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.(AP) 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish(AQ) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,(AR) 3 Eliakim(AS) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,(AT) Shebna(AU) the secretary,(AV) and Joah(AW) son of Asaph the recorder(AX) 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(AY) against me? 6 Look, I know you are depending(AZ) on Egypt,(BA) that splintered reed(BB) 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(BC) on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,(BD) saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?(BE)
8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses(BF)—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(BG) for chariots(BH) and horsemen[a]?(BI) 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told(BJ) me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah(BK) said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,(BL) 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?(BM)”
13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,(BN) “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!(BO) 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive(BP) 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(BQ) us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’(BR)
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(BS) and drink water from your own cistern,(BT) 17 until I come and take you to a land like your own(BU)—a land of grain and new wine,(BV) 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?(BW) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?(BX) Have they rescued Samaria(BY) from my hand? 20 Who of all the gods(BZ) of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”(CA)
21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”(CB)
22 Then Eliakim(CC) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder(CD) went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,(CE) and told him what the field commander had said.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 36:9 Or charioteers
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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