The Daily Audio Bible
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Advice
37 When King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the House of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 They told him what Hezekiah said: “This is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength left to give birth. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will take note of the words of this herald, who was sent by his lord, the king of Assyria, in defiance of the living God, and perhaps the Lord your God will rebuke him for what he has heard. So please, pray for the small group that is left here.”
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 he said to them, “Tell your master that this is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of what you have heard. The lackeys[a] of the king of Assyria have blasphemed against me. 7 Watch! I will put a spirit in him, so that when he hears certain news, he will return to his own land. There I will cause him to be killed.”
8 Then the herald went back. He heard that the king of Assyria had already left Lachish and was fighting against Libnah.
9 When Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush[b] had set out to fight against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah 10 to say this to Hezekiah king of Judah:
Do not let the God you trust deceive you, saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11 Listen, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other lands, destroying them completely. And you expect to be saved? 12 Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. He went up to the House of the Lord and placed it there before the Lord. 15 Then he prayed to the Lord.
16 O Lord of Armies, God of Israel, seated above the cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17 Turn your ear toward me, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to all of the words of Sennacherib, who has defied the living God. 18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these lands and their territory. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods at all, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you are the Lord, and you alone.
The Lord Replies to Hezekiah Through Isaiah
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah.
The Lord, the God of Israel, says that because you have prayed to him about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 the Lord sends you this reply about him.
The virgin daughter of Zion[c] despises you and jeers at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you in scorn.
23 Who is it whom you have mocked and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted up your proud eyes?
It is against the Holy One of Israel.
24 You have used your servants to mock the Lord.
You have boasted, “I have driven my many chariots
up the high mountains, to the most remote parts of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars and its best fir trees.
I have reached its highest peak, its most lush forest.
25 I dug wells and drank their water,
and I dried up all the rivers of Egypt with the soles of my feet.”
26 Have you not heard?
I did all this long ago.
I formed all this in ancient times.
Now I caused it all to take place.
I enabled you to destroy fortified cities,
reducing them to heaps of ruins.
27 Their inhabitants were powerless.
Overwhelmed and ashamed,
they were like plants in the field,
like fresh green grass, like grass on a housetop,
and like a field before it has grown.[d]
28 But I know when you stand and when you sit,[e]
when you go out and when you come in,
and how you rage wildly against me.
29 Because you rage against me,
and because your arrogance has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you go back by the same way that you came.
30 This will be a sign for you:
This year you will eat what grows by itself.
Next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year, you will sow crops and harvest them.
You will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah
will again put down roots below and bear fruit above.
32 For from Jerusalem a remnant will go out,
and survivors from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
33 This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city.
He will not shoot an arrow there.
He will not advance against it with a shield,
and he will not build a siege ramp against it.
34 He will go back by the same route that he came,
and he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
35 For I will defend this city to save it,
for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.
The Destruction of Sennacherib
36 Then an angel of the Lord went and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early in the morning, there they were—all the dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned to Nineveh and remained there. 38 One day when Sennacherib was worshipping in the house of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They fled to the land of Ararat,[f] and his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
38 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says. Give instructions to your household, because you are going to die. You will not survive.”
2 So Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, “Please remember, Lord, how I have walked before you in truth and with my whole heart. I have done what is good in your eyes.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah.
5 Go back and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says:
I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Now then, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
7 This will be the sign from the Lord to you. The Lord will do what he has promised. 8 Watch! I will make the shadow of the setting sun that has moved down the stairway of Ahaz move back, ten steps higher on the staircase.
Then the sun’s shadow moved backwards, ten steps higher on the stairway that it had just descended.
9 A poem written by Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery.[g]
10 I thought that, only halfway through my life,
I was entering into the gates of death,[h]
deprived of the remaining years of my life.
11 I thought, I will not see the Lord—
the Lord[i] in the land of the living.
I will no longer see anyone among the inhabitants of the world.[j]
12 My dwelling place is being pulled down.
It is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He is cutting me off from the loom.
From day until night, you make an end of me.[k]
13 I pondered this until the morning.
He will break all my bones like a lion!
From day until night, you make an end of me.
14 I chirp weakly like a swift or a swallow.
I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are tired from looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.
15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me, and he is the one to act.
I will march slowly throughout all my years,
because my heart is bitter.[l]
16 Lord, people live because you give them life.
My spirit lives through this.[m]
Restore me, and let me live.[n]
17 The bitter things I experienced were for my benefit.
Your love has preserved my life from the pit of destruction,
for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.
18 The grave[o] cannot thank you.
Death cannot praise you.
Those who go down into the pit cannot trust your faithfulness.
19 The living one, the living one, he praises you, as I do today.
A father tells his children about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
so we will sing songs with stringed instruments
all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord.
21 Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs, apply it as a poultice on the inflamed spot, and he will recover.”
22 Hezekiah had also asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the House of the Lord?”
Bear One Another’s Burdens
6 Brothers, if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of humility, carefully watching yourself so that you are not also tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill[a] the law of Christ. 3 For if someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person test his own work, and then he will take pride in regard to himself and not his neighbor. 5 For each man will bear his own burden.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with his teacher.
7 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap. 8 Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh. But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. 9 Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up.[b] 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.
What Matters: A New Creation, Not Circumcision
11 See what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 Those who want to look good in the flesh are the ones who are trying to compel you to be circumcised. Their only reason is so that they are not persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 As a matter of fact, those who are circumcised do not keep the law themselves. But they want to have you circumcised, so that they can boast about your flesh.
14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. 15 In fact, in Christ Jesus[c] circumcision or uncircumcision does not matter. What matters is being a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy on those who follow this rule, namely, on the Israel of God.
17 Finally, let no one cause me any trouble, because I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on my body.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Psalm 65
A Thanksgiving Psalm: You Crown the Year With Goodness
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David. A song.
Introduction
1 Praise waits for you,[a] O God, in Zion.
To you vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who hear prayer, to you all mortals[b] will come.
Spiritual Blessings
3 The record of my guilt overpowered me.
You atone for our rebellious acts.
4 How blessed is the one you choose and bring near!
He will dwell in your courtyards.
We will be satisfied by the goodness of your house,
by the holiness of your temple.
Blessings on the Nations
5 In righteousness you answer us with awesome deeds,
O God who saves us.
He is trusted by all the farthest ends of the earth and the sea.
6 He establishes the mountains by his power.
He has wrapped himself with strength.
7 He stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the peoples.
8 Those living at the ends of the earth fear your signs.
From sunrise to sunset you let them shout for joy.
Blessings of the Harvest
9 You visit the earth and water it.
You make it very rich.
God’s stream is filled with water.
You provide grain for them, just as you planned.
10 You drench the land’s furrows. You flatten its plowed ground.
You soften it with showers. You bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your goodness.
The tracks made by your carts overflow with riches.[c]
12 The pastures of the wilderness drip.
The hills are wrapped with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks.
The valleys are dressed with grain.
They shout for joy. Yes! They sing.
24 The father of a righteous child will celebrate greatly.
One who fathers a wise son will find joy in him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.