Isaiah 36-37

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezeki′ah, Sennach′erib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ² And the king of Assyria sent the Rab′shakeh from Lachish to King Hezeki′ah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ³ And there came out to him Eli′akim the son of Hilki′ah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Jo′ah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴ And the Rab′shakeh said to them, “Say to Hezeki′ah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours? ⁵ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶ Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ⁷ But if you say to me, “We rely on the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezeki′ah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem,“You shall worship before this altar”? ⁸ Come now, 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 set riders upon them. ⁹ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰ Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”

¹¹ Then Eli′akim, Shebna, and Jo′ah said to the Rab′shakeh, “Pray, speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ¹² But the Rab′shakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

¹³ Then the Rab′shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezeki′ah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵ Do not let Hezeki′ah make you rely on the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezeki′ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink 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 wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Beware lest Hezeki′ah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva′im? Have they delivered Samar′ia out of my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

²¹ But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” ²² Then Eli′akim the son of Hilki′ah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Jo′ah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezeki′ah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rab′shakeh.

Hezekiah Consults Isaiah

37 When King Hezeki′ah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eli′akim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, clothed with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezeki′ah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rab′shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

⁵ When the servants of King Hezeki′ah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸ The Rab′shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ Now the king heard concerning Tirha′kah king of Ethiopia, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezeki′ah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezeki′ah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telas′sar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharva′im, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Hezeki′ah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezeki′ah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezeki′ah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear; open thy eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennach′erib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone art the Lord.”

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezeki′ah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennach′erib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; ³² for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. ³⁵ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

³⁶ And the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷ Then Sennach′erib king of Assyria departed, and went home and dwelt at Nin′eveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adram′melech and Share′zer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ar′arat. And E′sar-had′don his son reigned in his stead.