God’s Answer through Isaiah

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

Virgin Daughter Zion(A)
despises you and scorns you;
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head(B)
behind your back.
23 Who is it you have mocked(C) and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?(D)
Against the Holy One of Israel!(E)
24 You have mocked the Lord through your servants.
You have said, “With my many chariots(F)
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its distant heights,
its densest forest.
25 I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands.[a]
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.”(G)

26 Have you not heard?(H)
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.(I)
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities(J)
into piles of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind.[b]

28 But I know your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in,(K)
and your raging against me.
29 Because your raging against me
and your arrogance have reached my ears,(L)
I will put my hook in your nose(M)
and my bit in your mouth;(N)
I will make you go back
the way you came.

30 “‘This will be the sign for you:(O) This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root(P) downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For a remnant(Q) will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.’(R)

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

He will not enter this city,
shoot an arrow here,
come before it with a shield,
or build up a siege ramp against it.
34 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

35 I will defend this city and rescue it
for my sake(S)
and for the sake of my servant David.”(T)

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Footnotes

  1. 37:25 DSS, 2Kg 19:24; MT omits in foreign lands
  2. 37:27 DSS; MT reads rooftops, field before standing grain

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,(A) 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

She despises you; she scorns you—
    virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
    daughter Jerusalem.(B)

23 “Whom have you mocked and reviled?
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
    Against the Holy One of Israel!(C)
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
    and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
    to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
    its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
    its densest forest.(D)
25 I dug wells
    and drank waters;
I dried up with the sole of my foot
    all the streams of Egypt.’

26 “Have you not heard
    that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
    what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
    crash into heaps of ruins,(E)
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
    are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
    and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops
    that is scorched before the east wind.[a](F)

28 “I know your rising up[b] and your sitting down,
    your going out and coming in
    and your raging against me.(G)
29 Because you have raged against me
    and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
    by which you came.(H)

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

33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; 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.”(K)

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Footnotes

  1. 37.27 Q ms: MT and a field before standing grain
  2. 37.28 Q ms Gk: MT lacks your rising up