Isaiah 37-41
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel
37 When King Hezekiah heard their report,(A) he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth,(B) and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace,(C) for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.(D) 4 Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,(E) and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”(F)
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6 who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid(G) because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with.(H) 7 I am about to put a spirit(I) in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”(J)
Sennacherib’s Letter
8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,(K) he returned and found him fighting against Libnah.(L) 9 The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush:(M) “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you(N) by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations(O) that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan,(P) Haran,(Q) Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.(R) 15 Then Hezekiah prayed(S) to the Lord:
16 Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim,(T) You are God(U)—You alone(V)—of all the kingdoms of the earth.(W) You made the heavens and the earth.(X) 17 Listen closely, Lord, and hear;(Y) open Your eyes, Lord, and see.(Z) Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.(AA) 18 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods(AB) but made by human hands(AC)—wood and stone.(AD) So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord(AE)—You alone.(AF)
God’s Answer through Hezekiah
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion(AG)
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head(AH)
behind your back.[a]
23 Who is it you have mocked(AI) and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride?(AJ)
Against the Holy One of Israel!(AK)
24 You have mocked the Lord through[b] your servants.
You have said, “With my many chariots(AL)
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its distant heights,
its densest forest.
25 I dug wells[c] and drank water.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.”(AM)
26 Have you not heard?(AN)
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.(AO)
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities(AP)
into piles of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind.[d]
28 But I know[e] your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in,(AQ)
and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance have reached My ears,(AR)
I will put My hook in your nose(AS)
and My bit in your mouth;(AT)
I will make you go back
the way you came.
30 “‘This will be the sign for you:(AU) This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root(AV) downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For a remnant(AW) will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’(AX)
33 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.
34 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36 Then(BA) the angel of the Lord(BB) went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.(BC)
38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.(BD) Then his son Esar-haddon(BE) became king in his place.
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
38 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.(BF) The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order,[f](BG) for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”[g]
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly,(BH) and have done what pleases You.”[h](BI) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.[i](BJ) 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.(BK) 7 This is the sign to you(BL) from the Lord that He will do what[j] He has promised:[k] 8 I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on Ahaz’s stairway go back by 10 steps.”(BM) So the sun’s shadow[l] went back the 10 steps it had descended.
9 A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10 I said: In the prime[m] of my life[n](BN)
I must go to the gates of Sheol;(BO)
I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11 I said: I will never see the Lord,
the Lord in the land of the living;(BP)
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away.[o]
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.(BQ)
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;(BR)
He cuts me off from the loom.[p](BS)
You make an end of me from day until night.(BT)
13 I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion;
You make an end of me day and night.
14 I chirp like a swallow or a crane;
I moan like a dove.(BU)
My eyes grow weak looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed; support me.(BV)
15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and He Himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years(BW)
because of the bitterness of my soul,(BX)
16 Lord, because of these promises people live,(BY)
and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;
You have restored me to health(BZ)
and let me live.(CA)
17 Indeed, it was for my own welfare
that I had such great bitterness;(CB)
but Your love has delivered me
from the Pit of destruction,(CC)
for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.(CD)
18 For Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You.(CE)
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, only the living can thank You,
as I do today;
a father will make Your faithfulness known to children.(CF)
20 The Lord will[q] save me;
we will play stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
at the house of the Lord.(CG)
21 Now Isaiah(CH) had said, “Let them take a lump of pressed figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover.” 22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”
Hezekiah’s Folly
39 At that time(CI) Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries.(CJ) There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.(CK)
3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”
4 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”
Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of Hosts:(CL) 6 ‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.(CM) 7 ‘Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.(CN)
God’s People Comforted
40 “Comfort, comfort My people,”(CO)
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to[r] Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of forced labor is over,
her iniquity(CP) has been pardoned,(CQ)
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”(CR)
3 A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;(CS)
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.(CT)
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.(CU)
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,(CV)
and all humanity[s] together will see it,(CW)
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(CX)
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another[t] said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,(CY)
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.(CZ)
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath[u] of the Lord blows on them;[v]
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,(DA)
but the word of our God remains forever.”(DB)
9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.(DC)
Jerusalem, herald of good news,(DD)
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”(DE)
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and His power establishes His rule.(DF)
His reward is with Him,(DG)
and His gifts accompany Him.
11 He protects His flock like a shepherd;(DH)
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?(DI)
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in the scales?
13 Who has directed[w] the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave Him His counsel?(DJ)
14 Who did He consult with?
Who gave Him understanding(DK)
and taught Him the paths of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge
and showed Him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;
He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.(DL)
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him;
they are considered by Him
as nothingness and emptiness.(DM)
18 Who will you compare God with?
What likeness will you compare Him to?(DN)
19 To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver welds for it?(DO)
20 To one who shapes a pedestal,
choosing wood that does not rot?[x]
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.(DP)
21 Do you not know?(DQ)
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?(DR)
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.(DS)
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth(DT)
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.(DU)
23 He reduces princes to nothing(DV)
and makes judges of the earth irrational.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.(DW)
25 “Who will you compare Me to,(DX)
or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up[y] and see:
who created(DY) these?
He brings out the starry host by number;
He calls all of them by name.(DZ)
Because of His great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?(EA)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,(EB)
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.(EC)
29 He gives strength to the weary
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;(ED)
they will soar on wings like eagles;(EE)
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.
The Lord versus the Nations’ Gods
41 “Be silent before Me, islands!(EF)
And let peoples renew their strength.
Let them approach, then let them testify;
let us come together for the trial.
2 Who has stirred him up from the east?(EG)
He calls righteousness to his feet.[z](EH)
The Lord hands nations over to him,(EI)
and he subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, going on safely,
hardly touching the path with his feet.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Yahweh, am the first,
and with the last(EJ)—I am He.”(EK)
5 The islands see and are afraid,
the whole earth trembles.(EL)
They approach and arrive.
6 Each one helps the other,
and says to another, “Take courage!”
7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker;(EM)
the one who flattens with the hammer
supports the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.(EN)
8 But you, Israel, My servant,(EO)
Jacob, whom I have chosen,(EP)
descendant of Abraham, My friend(EQ)—
9 I brought[aa] you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are My servant;
I have chosen you and not rejected you.(ER)
10 Do not fear, for I am with you;(ES)
do not be afraid, for I am your God.(ET)
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.(EU)
11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you
will be ashamed and disgraced;(EV)
those who contend with you
will become as nothing and will perish.
12 You will look for those who contend with you,
but you will not find them.
Those who war against you
will become absolutely nothing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God,(EW)
hold your right hand
and say to you: Do not fear,
I will help you.
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,(EX)
you men[ab] of Israel:
I will help you—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
Your Redeemer(EY) is the Holy One of Israel.(EZ)
15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board,
new, with many teeth.
You will thresh mountains and pulverize them
and make hills into chaff.(FA)
16 You will winnow them(FB)
and a wind will carry them away,
a gale will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the Lord;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;(FC)
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights,(FD)
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool of water
and dry land into springs of water.(FE)
19 I will plant cedars in the desert,
acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.(FF)
I will put juniper trees in the desert,
elms and cypress trees together,
20 so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,(FG)
the Holy One of Israel has created(FH) it.
21 “Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22 “Let them come and tell us
what will happen.(FI)
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
23 Tell us the coming events,(FJ)
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe[ac] and perceive.
24 Look, you are nothing(FK)
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
25 “I have raised up one from the north,(FL) and he has come,
one from the east(FM) who invokes My[ad] name.(FN)
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say: He is right?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
27 I was the first to say to Zion:[ae]
Look! Here they are!
And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.(FO)
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.(FP)
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;[af]
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 37:22 Lit behind you
- Isaiah 37:24 Lit by the hand of
- Isaiah 37:25 DSS add in foreign lands
- Isaiah 37:27 DSS; MT reads rooftops, field before standing grain
- Isaiah 37:28 DSS read know your rising up and
- Isaiah 38:1 Lit Command your house
- Isaiah 38:1 Lit live
- Isaiah 38:3 Lit what is good in Your eyes
- Isaiah 38:5 Lit days
- Isaiah 38:7 Lit this thing
- Isaiah 38:7 Lit said
- Isaiah 38:8 Lit And the sun
- Isaiah 38:10 Lit quiet
- Isaiah 38:10 Lit days
- Isaiah 38:11 Some Hb mss, Tg read of the world
- Isaiah 38:12 Lit thrum
- Isaiah 38:20 Lit to
- Isaiah 40:2 Lit Speak to the heart of
- Isaiah 40:5 Lit flesh
- Isaiah 40:6 DSS, LXX, Vg read I
- Isaiah 40:7 Or wind, or Spirit
- Isaiah 40:7 Lit it
- Isaiah 40:13 Or measured, or comprehended
- Isaiah 40:20 Or who is too poor for such an offering, or who chooses mulberry wood as a votive gift; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 40:26 Lit Lift up your eyes on high
- Isaiah 41:2 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 41:9 Or seized
- Isaiah 41:14 LXX reads small number; DSS read dead ones
- Isaiah 41:23 DSS read we may hear
- Isaiah 41:25 DSS read his
- Isaiah 41:27 Lit First to Zion
- Isaiah 41:29 DSS, Syr read are nothing
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