HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1004
IS A IA H 3 7
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria,
who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received
word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia* was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving
to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to
Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of
Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you
trust, deceive you with promises that
Jerusalem will not be captured by the king
of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what
the kings of Assyria have done wherever
they have gone. They have completely
destroyed everyone who stood in their way!
Why should you be any different? 12 Have the
gods of other nations rescued them—such
nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the
people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My
predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What
happened to the king of Hamath and the
king of Arpad? What happened to the
kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from
the messengers and read it, he went up to the
Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the
Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before
the Lord: 16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of
Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty
cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17 Bend down, O Lord, and
listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen
to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the
living God.
18 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria
have destroyed all these nations. 19 And they have
thrown the gods of these nations into the fire
and burned them. But of course the Assyrians
could destroy them! They were not gods at all—
only idols of wood and stone shaped by human
hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from
his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will
know that you alone, O Lord, are God.*”
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“Whom have you been defying and
ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
“But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
That is why their people have so little power
and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
as easily trampled as tender green
shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
scorched* before it can grow lush
and tall.
“But I know you well—
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me.
And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard
for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.”
30 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the
proof that what I say is true:
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message
to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God
of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King
Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 the Lord has spoken
this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee.
At whom did you look with such haughty
eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have defied
the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
and explored its deepest forests.
I have dug wells in many foreign lands*
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot,
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
31
“This year you will eat only what grows up
by itself,
and next year you will eat what springs
up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops
and harvest them;
you will tend vineyards and eat their
fruit.
And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the
siege,
37:9 Hebrew of Cush. 37:20 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also
2 Kgs 19:19); Masoretic Text reads you alone are the Lord.
37:25 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 19:24); Masoretic
Text lacks in many foreign lands. 37:27 As in Dead Sea Scrolls
and some Greek manuscripts (see also 2 Kgs 19:26); most
Hebrew manuscripts read like a terraced field.