Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, 2Kg 19:1-34 he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, Gn 37:34; 2Sm 3:31; 1Kg 21:27; Is 3:24 and went to the Lord’s temple.
2Then 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.
3They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, Is 22:5; 26:16; 33:2; Nah 1:7; Hab 3:16 for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. Is 26:17-18; 66:9; Hs 13:13
4Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, Dt 5:26; 1Sm 17:26,36; Jr 10:10 and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ” Is 1:9; 46:3
5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid Is 7:4; 35:4 because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with. Ps 44:7,13-16; Is 52:5; Rm 2:24
7I am about to put a spirit Nm 5:14; Is 19:14; Hs 4:12; Zch 13:2; 2Tm 1:7 in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ” Is 37:36-38
Sennacherib’s Letter
8When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, Jos 10:31-32 he returned and found him fighting against Libnah. Nm 33:20; Jos 10:29
9The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: Is 18:1; 20:5 “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 Is 36:14-15 by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.
11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
12Did the gods of the nations Is 36:18 that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — Gozan, 2Kg 17:6; 18:11 Haran, Gn 11:31; 12:1-4; Ac 7:2 Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’ ”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. Dt 22:17; 1Kg 8:22; Ezk 2:10
16Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, Ex 25:22; Nm 7:89; 1Sm 4:4; 2Sm 6:2; Ps 80:1; 99:1 You are God Dt 10:17; 2Sm 7:28; Ps 86:10; 90:2; 136:2-3 — You alone 1Kg 8:39; Neh 9:6; Ps 4:8; 83:18; 86:10; Rv 15:4 — of all the kingdoms of the earth. 2Ch 36:20; Ps 68:32; Rv 11:15 You made the heavens and the earth. Ex 20:11; Neh 9:6; Ps 146:6; Ac 4:24
17Listen closely, Lord, and hear; 2Ch 6:40; Ps 17:6; Dn 9:18 open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Is 42:5; 45:12; Jr 10:12 Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. Is 37:4
18Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.
19They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods Dt 32:17; 2Ch 13:9; Jr 2:11; 5:7; 16:20; Hs 8:6; Ac 19:26; Gl 4:8 but made by human hands Is 2:8,20; 17:8; 31:7; 41:24,29; 44:9-20; 46:6 — wood and stone. Dt 4:28; 28:36,64; 29:17; Ezk 20:32 So they have destroyed them.
20Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord Jos 4:24; 1Kg 8:60; 20:13; Is 45:3,6 — You alone. Is 37:16
God’s Answer through Hezekiah
21Then 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,
22this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion Is 1:8; 3:16-17; 4:4; 52:2; 62:11; Lm 2:13
despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head Ps 22:7; 109:25; Jb 16:4; Jr 18:16; Lm 2:15
behind your back. Lit behind you
23Who is it you have mocked Ps 74:10,18; Is 37:4; Gl 6:7 and blasphemed?
Who have you raised your voice against
and lifted your eyes in pride? Is 2:11; 5:15,21
Against the Holy One of Israel! Gn 12:3; Ex 23:22
You have said, “With my many chariots Ex 14:26-28; 15:4,19; Dt 20:1; Jos 11:4-9; 2Ch 16:8; Ps 68:17
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.
25I dug wells DSS add in foreign lands and drank water.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt
with the soles of my feet.” Dt 11:10; 1Kg 20:10
26Have you not heard? Is 40:21,28
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by. Is 5:19; 10:5-6; 14:24-26; 22:11; 46:11; Jr 18:11; Ac 2:23; 4:27-28; 1Pt 2:8
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities Is 34:13
into piles of rubble.
27Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,
blasted by the east wind. DSS; MT reads rooftops, field before standing grain
28But I know DSS read know your rising up and your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in, Ps 139:1
and your raging against Me.
29Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance have reached My ears, Is 10:12
I will put My hook in your nose Ezk 19:9; 29:4; 38:4
and My bit in your mouth; Is 30:28
I will make you go back
the way you came.
30“ ‘This will be the sign for you: Ex 3:12; 1Sm 2:34; 1Kg 13:3; Is 7:14; 38:7; Jr 44:29; Lk 2:12 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.
31The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root Is 27:6 downward and bear fruit upward.
32For a remnant Ezr 9:14; Is 10:20-22 will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’ 2Kg 19:31; Is 9:7; 59:17; Jl 2:18; Zch 1:14
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.
34He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
35I will defend this city and rescue it
because of Me Is 43:25; 48:9,11
and because of My servant David.” 1Kg 11:13,32-38; 2Kg 20:6; Ezk 34:23
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36Then 2Kg 19:35-37; 2Ch 32:21 the angel of the Lord Gn 16:7-11; Ex 3:2; Nm 22:22-35; Jdg 6:11-12; 2Sm 24:16; Ps 34:7 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!
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh. Gn 10:11; Jnh 1:2; 3:3; 4:11; Zph 2:13
38One 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. Gn 8:4; Jr 51:27 Then his son Esar-haddon Ezr 4:2 became king in his place.
Holman Christian Standard Bible®
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009
by Holman Bible Publishers
