Chapter 37
1 When King Hezekiah heard it , he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth , and went into Yahweh ’s house .
2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household , and Shebna the scribe , and the elders of the priests , covered with sackcloth , to Isaiah the prophet , the son of Amoz.
3 They said to him , " Hezekiah says , ‘ Today is a day of trouble , and of rebuke , and of rejection ; for the children have come to the birth , and there is no strength to give birth .
4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh , whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God , and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard . Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left .’"
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah .
6 Isaiah said to them , " Tell your master, ‘ Yahweh says , "Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard , with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me .
7 Behold , I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news , and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."’"
8 So Rabshakeh returned , and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah , for he heard that he had departed from Lachish .
9 He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia , " He has come out to fight against you ." When he heard it , he sent messengers to Hezekiah , saying,
10 " Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah , saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you , saying, " Jerusalem won’t 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, by destroying them utterly . Shall you be delivered ?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them , which my fathers have destroyed , Gozan , Haran , Rezeph , and the children of Eden who were in Telassar ?
13 Where is the king of Hamath , and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim , of Hena , and Ivvah ?’"
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it . Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh ’s house , and spread it before Yahweh .
15 Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh , saying,
16 " Yahweh of Armies , the God of Israel , who is enthroned among the cherubim , you are the God , even you alone , of all the kingdoms of the earth . You have made heaven and earth .
17 Turn your ear , Yahweh , and hear . Open your eyes , Yahweh , and behold . Hear all of the words of Sennacherib , who has sent to defy the living God .
18 Truly, Yahweh , the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men ’s hands , wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them .
20 Now therefore , Yahweh our God , save us from his hand , that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh , even you only ."
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah , saying, " Yahweh , the God of Israel says , ‘ Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him : The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you . The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you .
23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed ? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high ? Against the Holy One of Israel .
24 By your servants , you have defied the Lord, and have said, " With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains , to the innermost parts of Lebanon . I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees . I will enter into its farthest height , the forest of its fruitful field .
25 I have dug and drunk water , and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt ."
26 "‘ Have you not heard how I have done it long ago , and formed it in ancient times ? Now I have brought it to pass , that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities , turning them into ruinous heaps .
27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power . They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field , and like the green herb , like the grass on the housetops , and like a field before its crop has grown .
28 But I know your sitting down , your going out , your coming in , and your raging against me .
29 Because of your raging against me , and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips , and I will turn you back by the way by which you came .
30 "‘ This shall be the sign to you : You will eat this year that which grows of itself , and in the second year that which springs from it ; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards , and eat their fruit .
31 The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward , and bear fruit upward .
32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out , and survivors will escape from Mount Zion . The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this .’
33 " Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘ He will not come to this city , nor shoot an arrow there , neither will he come before it with shield , nor cast up a mound against it .
34 He will return the way that he came , and he won’t come to this city ,’ says Yahweh .
35 ‘ For I will defend this city to save it , for my own sake , and for my servant David ’s sake .’"
36 Then Yahweh ’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning , behold , these were all dead bodies .
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed , went away , returned to Nineveh , and stayed there .
38 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword ; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place .