Isaiah 36:1-10

New International Version

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(A)

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s^(B) reign, Sennacherib^(C) king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.^(D) ²Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish^(E) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,^(F) ³Eliakim^(G) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,^(H) Shebna^(I) the secretary,^(J) and Joah^(K) son of Asaph the recorder^(L) went out to him.

⁴The 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? ⁵You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel^(M) against me? ⁶Look, I know you are depending^(N) on Egypt,^(O) that splintered reed^(P) 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. ⁷But if you say to me, “We are depending^(Q) on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,^(R) saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?^(S)

⁸“‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses^(T)—if you can put riders on them! ⁹How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt^(U) for chariots^(V) and horsemen^[a]?^(W) ¹⁰Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told^(X) me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 36:9 Or charioteers

Romans 7:13-25

New International Version

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^(A) to bring about my death,^(B) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(C) sold^(D) as a slave to sin.^(E) ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^(F) ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^(G) ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^(H) ¹⁸For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a]^(I) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^(J) ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^(K)

²¹So I find this law at work:^(L) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being^(M) I delight in God’s law;^(N) ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war^(O) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^(P) at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^(Q) ²⁵Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^(R)