ISAIAH CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

37 And it came about that as soon as King Hezekiah heard, he immediately ripped his garments apart and covered himself with sackcloth and came into the house of Jehovah. 2 Further, he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary and the older men of the priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet. 3 And they proceeded to say to him: "This is what Hezekiah has said, "This day is a day of distress and of rebuke and of scornful insolence, for the sons have come as far as the womb's mouth, and there is no power to give birth. 4 Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord sent to taunt the living God, and he will actually call him to account for the words that Jehovah your God has heard. And you must lift up prayer in behalf of the remant that are to be found.'" 5 So the servants of King Kezekiah came in to Isaiah. 6 Then Isaiah said to them: "This is what you should say to YOUR lord, "This is what Jehovah has said: "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the attendants of the king of Assyria spoke abusively of me. 7 Here I am putting a spirit in him, and he must hear a report and return to his own land; and I shall certainly cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." 8 After that Rabshaken returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had pulled away from Lachish. 9 Now he heard it said concerning Tirhakah the king of Wthiopia: "He has come out to fight against you." When he heard, he at once sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10 "This is what YOU men should say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, 'Do not let your God in whom you are trusting deceive you, Saying: "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." 11 Look! You yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria did to all the lands by devoting them to destruction, and will you yourself be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations that my forefathers brought to ruin delivered them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden that were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath and the king of the city of Sepharvaim-of Hena and of Ivvah?" 14 Then Hezekiah took the letters out of the hand of the messengers and read them, after which Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it out before Jehovah. 15 And Hezekiah began to pray to Jehovah, saying: 16 "O Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, sitting upon the cherubs, you alone are the [true] God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You yourself have made the heavens and the earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Jehovah, and hear. Open your eyes, O Jehovah, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God. 18 It is a fact, O Jehovah, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the lands, and their own land. 19 And there was a consigning of their gods to the fire, because they were no gods, but the workmanship of man's hands, wood and stone, so that they destroyed them. 20 And now, O Jehovah our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Jehovah, are [God] alone." 21 And Isaiah the son of Amoz proceeded to send to Hezekiah, saying: "This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, 'Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib the king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him; "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, she has held you in derision, Behind you the daughter of Jerusalem has wagged [her] head, 23 Whom have you taunted and spoken of abusively? And against whom have you lifted up [your] voice And do you raise your eyes on high? It is against the Holy One of Israel! 24 By means of your servants you have taunted Jehovah and you say, 'With the multitude of y war chariots I myself- I shall certainly ascend the height of mountainous regions, The remotest parts of Lebanon; And I shall cut down its juniper trees, And I shall enter its final height, the forest of its orchard, 25 I myself shall certainly dig and drink waters, And I shall dry up with the soles of my feet all the Nile canals of Egypt. 26 Have you not heard? From remote times it is what I will do. From bygone days I have even formed it. Now I will bring it in. And you will serve to make fortified cities become desolate as piles of ruins. 27 And their inhabitants will be feeble-handed; They will simply be terrified and ashamed. They must become as vegetation of the field and green tender grass, Grass of the roofs and of the terrace before the east wind. 28 And your sitting quiet and your going out and your coming in I well know, And your exciting yourself against me, 29 Because your exciting yourself against me and your roaring have come up into my ears. And I shall certainly put my hook in your nose and my bridle between your lips, And I shall indeed lead you back by the way by which you have come." 30 "'And this will be the sign for you: There will be an eating this year of the growth from spilled kernels, and in the second year grain that shoots up of itself; but in the third year sow seed, YOU people, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. 31 And those who escape of the house of Judah, those who are left remaining, will certainly take root downward and produce fruitage upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth and those who escape out of Mount Zion. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this. 33 "' Therefore this is what Jehovah has said concerning of king of Assyria: "He will not come into this city, nor will he shoot an arrow there, nor confront it with a shield, nor cast up a seige rampart against it." 34 By the way by which he came he will return, and into this city he will not come, is the utterance of Jehovah. 35 And I shall certainly defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.'" 36 And the angel of Jehovah proceeded to go forth and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When people rose up early in the morning, why, there all of them were dead carcasses." 37 Hence Sennacherib the king of Assyria pulled away and went and returned and took up dwelling in Nineveh. 38 And it came about that as he was bowing down at the house of Nisroch his god. Adrammelech and Sharezer, his own sons, struck him down with the sword, and they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son began to reign in place of him.