Isaiah 37 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Isaiah Assures Deliverance^(A)

37 And ^(B)so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, 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 ^(C)trouble and rebuke and ^[a]blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(D)reproach the living God, and will rebuke 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 Surely I will send a spirit upon 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.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer^(E)

⁸ Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. ⁹ And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall speak 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 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ¹² Have the ^(F)gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of ^(G)Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

¹⁴ And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You ^(H)alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ^{17 (I)}Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and ^(J)hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their ^(K)lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were ^(L)not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. ²⁰ Now therefore, O Lord our God, ^(M)save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may ^(N)know that You are the Lord, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib^(O)

²¹ Then 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, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shaken her head behind your back!

²³ “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
²⁴ By your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter its farthest height,
To its fruitful forest.
²⁵ I have dug and drunk water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of ^[b]defense.’

²⁶ “Did you not hear ^(P)long ago
How I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
²⁷ Therefore their inhabitants had little power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field
And the green herb,
As the grass on the housetops
And grain blighted before it is grown.

²⁸ “But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
²⁹ Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore ^(Q)I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will ^(R)turn you back
By the way which you came.” ’

³⁰ “This shall be a sign to you:

You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
³¹ And the remnant who have 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 those who escape from Mount Zion.
The ^(S)zeal of the Lord of hosts will do 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 build a siege mound against it.
³⁴ By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says the Lord.
³⁵ ‘For I will ^(T)defend this city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant ^(U)David’s sake.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(V)

³⁶ Then the ^(W)angel^[c] of the Lord went out, and ^[d]killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. ³⁸ Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then ^(X)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 37:3 contempt
2. Isaiah 37:25 Or perhaps Egypt
3. Isaiah 37:36 Or Angel
4. Isaiah 37:36 Lit. struck

Cross references

1. Isaiah 37:1 : 2 Kin. 19:1–7
2. Isaiah 37:1 : 2 Kin. 19:1–37; Is. 37:1–38
3. Isaiah 37:3 : Is. 22:5; 26:16; 33:2
4. Isaiah 37:4 : Is. 36:15, 18, 20
5. Isaiah 37:8 : 2 Kin. 19:8–19
6. Isaiah 37:12 : Is. 36:18, 19
7. Isaiah 37:13 : Is. 49:23
8. Isaiah 37:16 : Is. 43:10, 11
9. Isaiah 37:17 : 2 Chr. 6:40; Ps. 17:6; Dan. 9:18
10. Isaiah 37:17 : Ps. 74:22
11. Isaiah 37:18 : 2 Kin. 15:29; 16:9; 17:6, 24; 1 Chr. 5:26
12. Isaiah 37:19 : Is. 40:19, 20
13. Isaiah 37:20 : Is. 33:22
14. Isaiah 37:20 : Ps. 83:18
15. Isaiah 37:21 : 2 Kin. 19:20–34
16. Isaiah 37:26 : Is. 25:1; 40:21; 45:21
17. Isaiah 37:29 : 2 Kin. 19:35–37; 2 Chr. 32:21; Is. 30:28; Ezek. 38:4
18. Isaiah 37:29 : Ezek. 38:4; 39:2
19. Isaiah 37:32 : 2 Kin. 19:31; Is. 9:7; 59:17; Joel 2:18; Zech. 1:14
20. Isaiah 37:35 : 2 Kin. 20:6; Is. 31:5; 38:6
21. Isaiah 37:35 : 1 Kin. 11:13
22. Isaiah 37:36 : 2 Kin. 19:35–37
23. Isaiah 37:36 : 2 Kin. 19:35; Is. 10:12, 33, 34
24. Isaiah 37:38 : Ezra 4:2