Isaiah 34-39

New American Standard Bible

God’s Wrath against Nations

34 Come near, ^(A)you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
^(B)Let the earth and ^[a]all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
²For the Lord’s ^(C)anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has ^[b]^(D)utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to ^(E)slaughter.
³So their slain will be ^(F)thrown out,
And their corpses ^[c]will give off their ^(G)stench,
And the mountains will ^[d]be drenched with their ^(H)blood.
⁴And ^(I)all the heavenly ^[e]lights will ^[f]wear away,
And the ^(J)sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its ^[g]lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
⁵For ^(K)My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon ^(L)Edom,
And upon the people whom I have ^(M)designated for destruction.
⁶The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in ^(N)Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of ^(O)Edom.
⁷^(P)Wild oxen will also ^[h]fall with them
And ^(Q)young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be ^(R)soaked with blood,
And their dust ^[i]become greasy with fat.
⁸For the Lord has a day of ^(S)vengeance,
A year of retribution for the ^[j]cause of Zion.
⁹^[k]Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into ^(T)brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
¹⁰It will ^(U)not be extinguished night or day;
Its ^(V)smoke will go up forever.
From ^(W)generation to generation it will be desolate;
^(X)None will pass through it forever and ever.
¹¹But ^[l]^(Y)pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And ^[m]owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the ^(Z)line of ^[n]desolation
And the ^[o]plumb line of emptiness.
¹²Its nobles—there is ^(AA)no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be ^(AB)nothing.
¹³Thorns will come up in its ^(AC)fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of ^(AD)jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
¹⁴The desert ^(AE)creatures will meet with the ^[p]wolves,
The ^[q]^(AF)goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the ^[r]night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
¹⁵The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its ^[s]protection.
Yes, ^(AG)the ^[t]hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.

¹⁶Seek from the ^(AH)book of the Lord, and read:

Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For ^[u]^(AI)His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
¹⁷He has cast the ^(AJ)lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the ^(AK)measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From ^(AL)generation to generation they will dwell in it.

Zion’s Happy Future

35 The ^(AM)wilderness and the desert will rejoice,
And the ^[v]^(AN)desert will shout for joy and blossom;
Like the crocus
²It will ^(AO)blossom profusely
And ^(AP)rejoice with joy and jubilation.
The ^(AQ)glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of ^(AR)Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the ^(AS)glory of the Lord,
The majesty of our God.
³^(AT)Strengthen the ^[w]exhausted, and make the ^[x]feeble strong.
⁴Say to those with ^(AU)anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with ^(AV)vengeance;
The ^(AW)retribution of God will come,
But He will ^(AX)save you.”
⁵Then the ^(AY)eyes of those who are blind will be opened,
And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped.
⁶Then those who ^(AZ)limp will leap like a deer,
And the ^(BA)tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
For waters will burst forth in the ^(BB)wilderness,
And streams in the ^[y]desert.
⁷The ^[z]scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground ^(BC)springs of water;
In the ^(BD)haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
⁸^(BE)A highway will be there, ^(BF)a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of ^(BG)Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for the one who walks that way,
And ^(BH)fools will not wander on it.
⁹No ^(BI)lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious animal go up on it;
^[aa]They will not be found there.
But ^(BJ)the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰And ^(BK)the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And ^(BL)sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 ^(BM)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(BN)Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ²And the ^(BO)king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the ^(BP)conduit of the upper pool on the road to the ^[ab]fuller’s field. ³Then ^(BQ)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(BR)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him.

⁴And ^(BS)Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have? ⁵I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only ^[ac]empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that ^(BT)you have revolted against me? ⁶Behold, you have relied on the ^(BU)staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^[ad]hand and pierce it. ^(BV)So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ⁷But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(BW)whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? ⁸Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ⁹How then can you ^[ae]drive back even one ^[af]official of the least of my master’s servants and ^[ag]^(BX)rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰And have I now come up ^[ah]without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? ^(BY)The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(BZ)Aramaic, for we ^[ai]understand it; and do not speak to us in ^[aj]^(CA)Judean ^[ak]so that the people who are on the wall hear you.” ¹²But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

¹³Then Rabshakeh stood and ^(CB)called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah ^(CC)deceive you, for he will not be able to save you; ¹⁵and do not let Hezekiah lead you to ^(CD)rely on the Lord, saying, “The Lord will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!” ¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘^[al]Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his ^(CE)vine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the ^(CF)waters of his own cistern, ¹⁷until 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. ¹⁸Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “^(CG)The Lord will save us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of ^(CH)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^(CI)Sepharvaim? And when have they ^(CJ)saved Samaria from my hand? ²⁰Who among all the ^(CK)gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the ^(CL)Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’”

²¹But they were silent and did not ^(CM)answer him so much as a word; for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” ²²Then ^(CN)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(CO)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

37 Now ^(CP)when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. ²Then he sent ^(CQ)Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with ^(CR)Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^(CS)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a ^(CT)day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for ^(CU)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to ^[am]deliver them. ⁴Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(CV)taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^(CW)the remnant that is left.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: “^(CX)Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will ^(CY)hear news and ^(CZ)return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(DA)Libnah, for he had heard that ^[an]the king had left ^(DB)Lachish. ⁹Now he ^(DC)heard them say regarding Tirhakah king of ^[ao]^(DD)Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^[ap]Judah: ‘^(DE)Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹^(DF)Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? ¹²Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: ^(DG)Gozan, ^(DH)Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

¹⁴Then Hezekiah took the ^[aq]letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and ^[ar]spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶“Lord of armies, God of Israel, ^(DI)who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^(DJ)God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^(DK)You made heaven and earth. ¹⁷^(DL)Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and ^(DM)listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^(DN)taunt the living God. ¹⁸Truly, Lord, the ^(DO)kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, ¹⁹and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the ^(DP)work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have ^(DQ)destroyed them. ²⁰But now Lord, our God, ^(DR)save us from his hand, so that ^(DS)all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, ^[as]Lord, are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

²¹Then ^(DT)Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

“She has shown contempt for you and derided you,
The ^(DU)virgin ^(DV)daughter of Zion;
The daughter of Jerusalem has ^(DW)shaken her head behind you!
²³Whom have you ^(DX)taunted and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And ^[at]haughtily ^(DY)raised your eyes?
Against the ^(DZ)Holy One of Israel!
²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of ^(EA)Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall ^(EB)cedars and its choice junipers.
And I will come to its ^[au]highest peak, its thickest ^(EC)forest.
²⁵I dug wells and drank waters,
And ^(ED)with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the canals of ^[av]Egypt.’
²⁶^(EE)Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I ^(EF)planned it.
Now ^(EG)I have brought it about
That ^(EH)you would turn fortified cities into ^(EI)ruined heaps.
²⁷Therefore their inhabitants were ^[aw]powerless,
They were shattered and put to shame;
They were like the ^(EJ)vegetation of the field and the green grass,
Like ^(EK)grass on the housetops ^[ax]that is scorched before it has grown.
²⁸But I ^(EL)know your sitting down,
Your going out, your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
²⁹Because of your raging against Me
And because your ^(EM)complacency has come up to My ears,
I will put My ^(EN)hook in your nose
And My ^(EO)bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back ^(EP)by the way that you came.

³⁰“Then this shall be the sign for you: ^[ay]you will eat this year what ^(EQ)grows of itself, in the second year what grows from the same, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹The ^(ER)survivors that are ^(ES)left of the house of Judah will again ^(ET)take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³²For out of Jerusalem a ^(EU)remnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The ^(EV)zeal of the Lord of armies will perform this.”’

³³“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an ^(EW)assault ramp against it. ³⁴^(EX)By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. ³⁵‘For I will ^(EY)protect this city to save it ^(EZ)for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

³⁶Then the ^(FA)angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of ^[az]the 185,000 were ^[ba]dead. ³⁷So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and ^[bb]returned home and lived in ^(FB)Nineveh. ³⁸Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of ^(FC)Ararat. And his son ^(FD)Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Hezekiah Healed

38 ^(FE)In those days Hezekiah became ^[bc]mortally ill. And ^(FF)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘^(FG)Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³and said, “^(FH)Please, Lord, just remember how I have ^(FI)walked before You ^(FJ)wholeheartedly and in truth, and ^(FK)have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah ^(FL)wept ^[bd]profusely.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add ^(FM)fifteen years to your ^[be]life. ⁶And I will ^(FN)save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city.”’

⁷“And this shall be the ^(FO)sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform this word that He has spoken: ⁸Behold, I will ^(FP)make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So the ^(FQ)sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

⁹This is a writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and ^[bf]recovery:

¹⁰I said, “^(FR)In the middle of my ^[bg]life
I am to enter the ^(FS)gates of Sheol;
I have been ^(FT)deprived of the rest of my years.”
¹¹I said, “I will not see the Lord,
The Lord ^(FU)in the land of the living;
I will no longer look on mankind among the inhabitants of the world.
¹²Like a shepherd’s ^(FV)tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a ^(FW)weaver I ^(FX)rolled up my life.
He ^(FY)cuts me off from the loom;
From ^(FZ)day until night You make an end of me.
¹³I composed my soul until morning.
^(GA)Like a lion—so He ^(GB)breaks all my bones,
From ^(GC)day until night You make an end of me.
¹⁴^(GD)Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I ^(GE)moan like a dove;
My ^(GF)eyes look wistfully to the heights;
Lord, I am oppressed, be my ^(GG)security.

¹⁵“^(GH)What shall I say?
^[bh]For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will ^(GI)walk ^[bi]quietly all my years because of the ^(GJ)bitterness of my soul.
¹⁶Lord, ^(GK)by these things people live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
^[bj]^(GL)Restore me to health and ^(GM)let me live!
¹⁷Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
But You have ^[bk]^(GN)kept my soul from the pit of ^[bl]nothingness,
For You have ^(GO)hurled all my sins behind Your back.
¹⁸For ^(GP)Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down ^(GQ)to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
¹⁹It is the ^(GR)living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A ^(GS)father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
²⁰The Lord is certain to save me;
So we will ^(GT)play my songs on stringed instruments
^(GU)All the days of our life ^(GV)at the house of the Lord.”

²¹Now ^(GW)Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.” ²²Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the ^(GX)sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?”

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures

39 ^(GY)At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ²Hezekiah ^[bm]was ^(GZ)pleased, and let them see all his treasure house, the ^(HA)silver, the gold, the balsam oil, the excellent olive oil, his entire armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his realm that Hezekiah did not let them see. ³Then Isaiah the ^(HB)prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far ^(HC)country, from Babylon.” ⁴Then he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah ^[bn]answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not let them see.”

⁵Isaiah then said to Hezekiah, “Hear the ^(HD)word of the Lord of armies, ⁶‘Behold, the days are coming when ^(HE)everything that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ⁷‘And some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, ^(HF)will be taken away, and ^(HG)they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ⁸^(HH)Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he ^[bo]thought, “For there will be peace and truth ^(HI)in my days.”