37:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he
rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went
into the house of the LORD.
37:2 And he sent Eliakim, who [was] over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with
sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
37:3 And they said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a
day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the
children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to
bring forth.
37:4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of
Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to
reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the
LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up [thy] prayer for the
remnant that is left.
37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
37:6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master,
Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast
heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
blasphemed me.
37:7 Behold, I will send a blast 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.
37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed
from Lachish.
37:9 And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, He
is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard [it], he
sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
37:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let
not thy God in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria.
37:11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have
done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be
delivered?
37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my
fathers have destroyed, [as] Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and
the children of Eden who [were] in Telassar?
37:13 Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and
the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
37:14 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.
37:15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,
37:16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest [between]
the cherubim, thou [art] the God, [even] thou alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
37:17 Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD,
and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent
to reproach the living God.
37:18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all
the nations, and their countries,
37:19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they [were] no
gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore
they have destroyed them.
37:20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that
all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou [art] the
LORD, [even] thou only.
37:21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus
saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me
against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
37:22 This [is] the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning
him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee,
[and] derided thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her
head at thee.
37:23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom
hast thou exalted [thy] voice, and lifted thy eyes on high?
[even] against the Holy One of Israel.
37:24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the LORD, and hast
said, By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the
hight of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut
down its tall cedars, [and] its choice fir-trees: and I will
enter into the hight of its border, [and] the forest of its
Carmel.
37:25 I have digged, and drank water; and with the sole of my
feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
37:26 Hast thou not heard long ago, [how] I have done it; [and]
of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it
to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste fortified cities
[into] ruinous heaps.
37:27 Therefore their inhabitants [were] of small power, they
were dismayed and confounded: they were [as] the grass of the
field, and [as] the green herb, [as] the grass on the
house-tops, and [as corn] blasted before it is grown up.
37:28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming
in, and thy rage against me.
37:29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up
into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my
bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by
which thou camest.
37:30 And this [shall be] a sign to thee, Ye shall eat [this]
year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which
springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap,
and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
37:31 And the remnant that hath escaped of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
37:32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they
that escape from mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts will
do this.
37:33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of
Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow
there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a mound
against it.
37:34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
37:35 For I will defend this city, to save it for my own sake,
and for my servant David's sake.
37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and
when they arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all
dead corpses.
37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37:38 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote
him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia:
and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.
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