Jerusalem Will Be Free

37 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes. He covered himself with cloth made from hair, and went into the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim, the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and the head religious leaders, covered with cloth made from hair, to Isaiah the man of God, the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of trouble, pain, and shame. For children have come to birth, and there is no strength for them to be born. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his leader the king of Assyria has sent to try to bring shame upon the living God. The Lord your God may speak sharp words against what He has heard. So say a prayer for those who are left of His people.’” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ And Isaiah said to them, “Tell your king, ‘This is what the Lord says. “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against Me. ⁷ See, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear some news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

⁸ Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ Now the king had heard them say about King Tirhakah of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent men to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in Whom you trust fool you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands. They have destroyed them all. So will you be kept from trouble? ¹² Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed take them out of trouble? Did they save Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the men from Assyria, and read it. He went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, ¹⁶ “O Lord of All, the God of Israel, Who sits on the throne above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the nations of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Listen, O Lord, and hear. Open Your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to speak against the living God. ¹⁸ It is true, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands. ¹⁹ They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, made of wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ²⁰ Now, O Lord our God, take us out of his hand, that all the nations of the earth may know that You alone are the Lord.”

The Word of the Lord to the King

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: “She has hated you and made fun of you, the young daughter of Zion who has never had a man! She has shaken her head behind you, the people of Jerusalem! ²³ Whom have you put to shame and spoken against? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ Through your servants you have spoken against the Lord. You have said, ‘I came up to the high mountains with my many war-wagons, to the farthest parts of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedar trees and its best cypress trees. I came to its highest mountain top, and to the place that has the most trees. ²⁵ I dug wells in strange lands and drank water there. With the bottom of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’ ²⁶ Have you not heard that I planned this long ago? From days of old I planned it. Now I have made it happen, that you should turn strong cities built for battles into waste lands. ²⁷ So their people did not have any more strength. They were troubled and put to shame. They were like the grass of the field and like the green plant. They were like grass on the housetops, dried up before it is grown. ²⁸ But I know your sitting down, and your going out and your coming in, and your anger against Me. ²⁹ Because of your anger against Me, and because I have heard of your pride, I will put My hook in your nose, and My bit in your mouth. And I will make you return the way you came.

³⁰ “This will be the special thing for you to see: You will eat this year what grows of itself. In the second year you will eat what grows up from the same. Then in the third year you will plant and gather. You will plant grape-fields and eat their fruit. ³¹ And those who are left of the family of Judah will again have their roots grow down and grow their fruit above. ³² For My people who are left will go out from Jerusalem and from Mount Zion. This will be done by the work of the Lord of All.”’” ³³ So the Lord says about the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with a battle-covering, or build a battle-wall against it. ³⁴ He will return by the same way he came, and he will not come to this city,’ says the Lord. ³⁵ ‘For I will fight for this city to save it for My own good, and for the good of My servant David.’”

³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. And when men got up early in the morning, they saw all these dead bodies. ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁸ When he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword. Then they ran away to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Hezekiah Will Live Fifteen More Years

38 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was near death. Isaiah the man of God, the son of Amoz, came to him and said, “The Lord says, ‘Make those of your house ready, for you will die and not live.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, ³ and said, “O Lord, I ask you from my heart to remember now how I have walked with You in truth and with a whole heart. I have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah cried with a bitter cry. ⁴ Then the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘The Lord, the God of your father David, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. See, I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ And I will take you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will fight for this city.”’” ⁷ “This is the special thing for you to see from the Lord, that the Lord will do what He has said: ⁸ See the shadow on the steps, which has gone down with the sun on the steps of Ahaz. I will make it go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back the ten steps it had gone down.

⁹ This is the writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after he had been sick and became well again: ¹⁰ I said, “Half-way through my life I am to go through the gates of the place of the dead. The rest of my years have been kept from me.” ¹¹ I said, “I will not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living. I will not look upon man any more among the people of the world. ¹² My house is pulled up like a shepherd’s tent and taken from me. I have rolled up my life like a cloth-maker. He cuts me off from the cloth He is making. From day to night You make an end of me. ¹³ I waited for help until morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones. From day to night You make an end of me. ¹⁴ I make noise like the birds. I cry like a dove. My eyes are tired from looking up. O Lord, I am having a hard time. Keep me safe.

¹⁵ “But what can I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I will walk with care all my years because my soul is bitter. ¹⁶ O Lord, by these things men live. And in all these is the life of my spirit. O heal me, and let me live! ¹⁷ See, it was for my own well-being that I was bitter. But You have kept my soul from the grave that destroys. You have put all my sins behind Your back. ¹⁸ The place of the dead cannot thank You. Death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the grave cannot hope that You will be faithful. ¹⁹ It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today. A father tells his sons about how faithful You are. ²⁰ The Lord will save me. And we will sing my songs with harps all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.”

²¹ Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and put it on the sore, that he may get well.” ²² Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the special thing to see, that I will go up to the house of the Lord?”