Isaiah 37-38
Tree of Life Version
Hezekiah Tears His Clothes
37 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of Adonai. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe and the senior kohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.
3 Then they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, rebuke and contempt. For children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength for giving birth. 4 Perhaps Adonai your God, will hear 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 Adonai your God has heard. So offer prayer for the remnant that is left.”
5 When the officials of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them: “Thus you will say to your master, ‘Thus says Adonai: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the boys of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor, and will return to his own country; then I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8 Then the Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard he had withdrawn from Lachish. 9 Now he had heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying: “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying: 10 “Thus you will say to King Hezekiah of Judah, saying, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying: ‘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—utterly destroying them—so will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those my fathers destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, or Ivvah?’”
14 Then Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it.
Then Hezekiah went up to the House of Adonai and spread it before Adonai. 15 Hezekiah prayed to Adonai saying: 16 “Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of Israel, who is enthroned upon the cheruvim, You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, Adonai, and hear! Open Your eyes, Adonai, and see! Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who was sent to mock the living God. 18 It is true, Adonai, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire—for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Adonai our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are Adonai!”
Answered Prayer and Sennacherib’s Demise
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: ‘Because you prayed to Me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Adonai has spoken about him:
“The virgin Daughter of Zion
will despise you and mock you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
will shake her head at you.
23 Whom did you taunt and blaspheme?
Against whom did you raise your voice
and haughtily lift up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 Through your servants,
you have blasphemed my Lord and said:
‘With my many chariots
I have climbed to the heights of the mountains,
to the remotest parts of Lebanon!
I cut down its tall cedars
and choice cypress trees.
I have gone to its farthest peak,
its thickest forest.
25 I dug and drank water,
and with the sole of my feet,
I dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
26 Have you not heard?
I did it long ago!
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass—
that you should turn fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants are weak handed,
shattered and ashamed.
They are like the grass of the field
and green herb,
like grass on roofs,
scorched before it is grown up.
28 But I know your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in,
and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance reached My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose,
and My bridle in your lips,
and I will turn you back
by the way that you came.”
30 So this shall be the sign to you: This year you will eat what grows by itself, in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For from Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot shall perform this.”
33 Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not come to the city,
or shoot an arrow there,
or come before it with a shield,
or throw up a siege-ramp against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return,
and he will not come into this city”
—it is a declaration of Adonai.
35 “For I will defend this city to save it,
for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.”
36 Then the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria withdrew, and returned home, and stayed in Nineveh. 38 It also came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of his god Nisroch, that his sons Adrammelech and Sarezer struck him down with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ararat. Then his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.
“Put Your House In Order”
38 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Adonai: Put your house in order. For you are dying, and will not live.”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Adonai. 3 He said: “Please, Adonai, remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then it came to pass, the word of Adonai came to Isaiah saying: 5 “Go, and say to Hezekiah, thus says Adonai, the God of your father David: ‘I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.’
7 “Now this will be the sign to you from Adonai, that Adonai will do this word He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairs, which went down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, to turn back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
9 A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after his illness, when he recovered from his illness:
10 I said: “In the prime of my life,
I am to enter the gates of Sheol.
I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said: “I will not see Adonai,
Adonai, in the land of the living.
I will look on humanity no longer
among the inhabitants of the world.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent,
my dwelling is pulled up and carried away from me.
Like a weaver I rolled up my life.
He cuts me off from the loom.
From day until night You make my end.
13 I stilled my soul till morning.
Like a lion, He will break all my bones.
From day till night You make my end.
14 Like a swallow or a crane, I whisper,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary, looking upward.
Adonai, I am oppressed, be my security!
15 What should I say?
For He has spoken to me—
He Himself has done it!
I will wander about all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 Adonai, by such things men live,
and my spirit has life in them too.
Restore me to health,
and let me live!
17 Behold, it was for my own shalom
that I had great bitterness.
You have loved my soul
out of the Pit of destruction!
For You have flung all my sins
behind Your back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You,
death cannot praise You.
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise You—
as I do today.
A father makes Your faithfulness
known to his children.
20 Adonai will save me.
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
all the days of our life in the House of Adonai.”
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, and he will live.” 22 Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the House of Adonai?”
Galatians 6
Tree of Life Version
Bearing Burdens
6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught doing something wrong, you who are directed by the Ruach, restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness—looking closely at yourself so you are not tempted also. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you fulfill the Torah of Messiah. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 Rather let each one examine his own work. Then he will have pride in himself alone and not in comparison to anyone else. 5 For each one will carry his own load.
6 Now let the one who is taught the word share all good things with his teacher. 7 Do not be deceived—God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also shall reap. 8 For the one who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.[a] But the one who sows in the Ruach will reap from the Ruach eternal life. 9 So let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good toward all[b]—especially those who belong to the household of faith.
Living under God’s Favor
11 Notice the large letters—I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 Those wanting to look good outwardly[c] are trying to force you to be circumcised—only so they will not be persecuted for the cross of Messiah. 13 For not even the circumcised keep Torah themselves. Yet they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. 14 But may I never boast—except in the cross of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Through Him the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means[d] anything—but only a new creation. 16 Now as many as live by this rule[e]—shalom and mercy on them and on the Israel of God.
17 From now on let no one make trouble for me, for I bear on my body the scars[f] of Yeshua.
18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- Galatians 6:8 cf. Job 4:8.
- Galatians 6:10 cf. Prov. 3:27.
- Galatians 6:12 Lit. in flesh.
- Galatians 6:15 Most mss. read is.
- Galatians 6:16 Or standard, straight rod; Grk. kanon.
- Galatians 6:17 Lit. marks, branding marks; Grk. stigma (pl. stigmata).
Psalm 65:1-13
Tree of Life Version
Praise is Awaitng You in Zion
Psalm 65
1 For the music director, a psalm, a song of David.
2 Praise is awaiting You in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be fulfilled.
3 O You who hear prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
4 Records of sins overwhelm me—
You will atone for our transgressions.
5 Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your House—Your holy Temple.
6 You respond to us in righteousness with awe-inspiring works
—O God of our salvation—
hope of all ends of the earth and farthest seas,
7 who establishes mountains by His power,
being girded with might,
8 who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the tumult of the peoples.
9 Those dwelling in the uttermost parts stand in awe of Your signs.
You make morning and evening shout for joy.
10 You visit the land and make it abundant,
greatly enriching it—
the stream of God is full of water.
You prepare their grain,
for so You have prepared the earth.
11 You drench her furrows,
leveling the ridges.
You soften her with showers,
blessing her growth.
12 You crown the year with Your goodness.
Your wagon tracks drip with abundance.
13 Pastures of the wilderness overflow
and hills are robed with joy.
Proverbs 23:24
Tree of Life Version
24 The father of a righteous one rejoices greatly.
Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.