Isaiah 37:21-38

New International Version

Sennacherib’s Fall^(A)

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz^(B) sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

“Virgin Daughter^(C) Zion^(D)
    despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(E) as you flee.
²³Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(F)
    Against whom have you raised your voice^(G)
and lifted your eyes in pride?^(H)
    Against the Holy One^(I) of Israel!
²⁴By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
    ‘With my many chariots^(J)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights^(K) of Lebanon.^(L)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.^(M)
I have reached its remotest heights,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁵I have dug wells in foreign lands^[a]
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up^(N) all the streams of Egypt.^(O)’

²⁶“Have you not heard?
    Long ago I ordained^(P) it.
In days of old I planned^(Q) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(R)
²⁷Their people, drained of power,
    are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,
like grass^(S) sprouting on the roof,^(T)
    scorched^[b] before it grows up.

²⁸“But I know where you are
    and when you come and go^(U)
    and how you rage^(V) against me.
²⁹Because you rage against me
    and because your insolence^(W) has reached my ears,
I will put my hook^(X) in your nose^(Y)
    and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
    by the way you came.^(Z)

³⁰“This will be the sign^(AA) for you, Hezekiah:

“This year^(AB) you will eat what grows by itself,
    and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year^(AC) sow and reap,
    plant vineyards^(AD) and eat their fruit.^(AE)
³¹Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
    will take root^(AF) below and bear fruit^(AG) above.
³²For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^(AH)
    and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^(AI)
The zeal^(AJ) of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

³³“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city^(AK)
    or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
    or build a siege ramp^(AL) against it.
³⁴By the way that he came he will return;^(AM)
    he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
³⁵“I will defend^(AN) this city and save it,
    for my sake^(AO) and for the sake of David^(AP) my servant!”

³⁶Then the angel^(AQ) of the Lord went out and put to death^(AR) a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian^(AS) camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷So Sennacherib^(AT) king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh^(AU) and stayed there.

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple^(AV) of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat.^(AW) And Esarhaddon^(AX) his son succeeded him as king.^(AY)

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Footnotes

Isaiah 37:25 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kings 19:24); Masoretic Text does not have in foreign lands.
Isaiah 37:27 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text roof / and terraced fields

Romans 9:1-18

New International Version

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,^(A) my conscience confirms^(B) it through the Holy Spirit— ²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself^(C) were cursed^(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,^(E) those of my own race,^(F) ⁴the people of Israel.^(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^(H) theirs the divine glory,^(I) the covenants,^(J) the receiving of the law,^(K) the temple worship^(L) and the promises.^(M) ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs,^(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^(O) who is God over all,^(P) forever praised!^[a]^(Q) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶It is not as though God’s word^(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(S) ⁷Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[b]^(T) ⁸In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^(V) ⁹For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]^(W)

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^(X) ¹¹Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^(Y)—in order that God’s purpose^(Z) in election might stand: ¹²not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^[d]^(AA) ¹³Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e]^(AB)

¹⁴What then shall we say?^(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!^(AD) ¹⁵For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]^(AE)

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^(AF) ¹⁷For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[g]^(AG) ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(AH)

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Footnotes

Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16