Isaiah 37

1. And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2. And 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. And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy! For the children have come to the birth, but there is no strength to bring forth.

4.It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the chief field commander, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD 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. And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD,”Do not be afraid of the words which 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 shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ‘ ”

8. So the chief field commander returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

9. And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to war against you.” And he heard and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10. “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Do not let your God, in Whom you trust, deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall 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 by completely destroying them. And shall you be delivered?

12. Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed:Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

14. And Hezekiah received the letter from the courier’s hand, and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.

15. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

16. “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, Who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

17. Bow down Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock the living God.

18. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands,

19. And have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; so they have destroyed them.

20. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone.”

21. And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22. This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him, “The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

23. Whom have you mocked and blasphemed? And against Whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.

24. By your servants you have mocked the LORD and have said, ‘By my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and its choice fir trees; and I will go to its greatest height, the finest of its forests.

25. I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

26. Have you not heard from long ago how I made it? From ancient times, even how I have formed it? Now I have brought it to pass that you should lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

27. And their inhabitants were of little power—dismayed and ashamed. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, even grain blasted before it has risen.

28. But I know your dwelling place, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against Me.

29. Because of your raging against Me, and 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 which you came.” ‘

30. And this shall be the sign to you: You shall eat self-sown grain this year; and the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

31. The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward;

32. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and survivors out of Mount Zion; the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall perform this.

33. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

34. By the way that he came, by the same way he shall return, and 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 My servant David’s sake.’ ”

36. Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. And they rose early in the morning, and behold! They were all dead corpses.

37. And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

38. And it came to pass 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; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.