Chronological
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8 Then the Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard he had withdrawn from Lachish. 9 Now he had heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying: “He has come out to fight against you.”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?”
Hezekiah Shows Off
39 At that time Merodach-baladan, son of King Baladan of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Now Hezekiah was pleased with them, so he showed them his treasure house—the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil—and his whole armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”
Hezekiah replied, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
4 Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”
Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing among my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Hear the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot, 6 ‘Behold, days are coming when everything in your house, which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon—nothing will be left,’ says Adonai. 7 ‘Moreover, some of your descendants—who will issue from you, whom you will father—will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Adonai which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be shalom and security in my days.”
Who Can Stand in Your Presence?
Psalm 76
1 For the music director, on stringed instruments: a psalm of Asaph, a song.
2 In Judah God is known.
In Israel His Name is great.
3 In Salem is His sukkah
and His dwelling place in Zion.
4 There He broke the fiery shafts of the bow,
the shield, the sword, and the battle. Selah
5 You are brilliant,
more majestic than nourishing mountains.
6 The valiant have been plundered—
they slumbered in their sleep.
The mighty could not lift their hands.
7 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both horse and rider lay dead asleep.
8 You are awesome, yes You are!
Who can stand in Your presence once You are angry?
9 From heaven You pronounced judgment.
The earth feared and was still—
10 when God rose up to judgment,
to save all the humble of the land. Selah
11 For wrath upon man will bring You praise,
a remnant of wrath You put on as a belt.
12 Make vows to Adonai your God and fulfill them.
Let all around Him bring tribute to the One who is to be feared.
13 He cuts off the breath of princes.
The kings of earth are in awe of Him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.