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.
2 And he sent Eliakim, which 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.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, 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 are left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
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 delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
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 which were in Thelasar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.
17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18 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.
19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25 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 shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26 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 housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine 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.
29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
32 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 shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping 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 Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead

1And it came to passe when King Hezekiah heard it, that hee rent his clothes, and couered himselfe with sackecloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

2And hee sent Eliakim, which was ouer the houshold, and Shebna the Scribe, and the Elders of the Priests, couered with sackcloth, to Esai the Prophet the sonne of Amoz.

3And they sayd vnto him, Thus sayth Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemie: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring foorth.

4It may be, the Lord thy God will heare all the words of Rabshakeh whome the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproch the liuing God, and will reprooue the wordes which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift vp thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

5So the seruants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said vnto them, Thus shal ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the wordes which thou hast heard, with which the seruants of the king of Assyria haue blasphemed me.

7Behold, I will send a blast vpon him, and he shall heare a rumour, and shall returne to his owne land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his owne land.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for hee had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, hee is come out to fight against thee: hee sent messengers againe vnto Hezekiah, saying,

10Thus shall ye speake to Hezekiah king of Iudah, saying, Let not thy God in whome thou trustest, deceiue thee, saying, Ierusalem shall not be deliuered into the hande of the king of Assyria.

11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria haue done to all lands, by destroying them vtterly: and shalt thou be deliuered?

12Haue the gods of the nations deliuered them which my fathers haue destroyed? As Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the citie of Sepharuaim, of Hena, and Iuah?

14 And Hezekiah receiued the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went vp into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

15And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art the God, euen thou alone, of all the kingdomes of the earth, thou hast made heauen and earth.

16Lord, bow downe thine eare, and heare: open, Lord, thine eyes; and see: and heare the words of Sennacherib which hath sent him to reproch the liuing God.

17Of a trueth, Lord, the kings of Assyria haue destroyed the nations and their lands,

18And haue cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of mens hands, wood and stone: therfore they haue destroyed them.

19Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, saue thou vs out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord God, euen thou onely.

20 Then Isaiah the sonne of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to mee against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I haue heard.

21This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him, The Uirgin, the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorne, the daughter of Ierusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

22Whome hast thou reproched and blasphemed? and against whome hast thou exalted thy voyce, and lift vp thine eyes on high? euen against the Holy One of Israel.

23By thy messengers thou hast reproched the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my charets, I am come vp to the height of the mountaines, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut downe the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice firre trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forrest of his Carmel.

24I haue digged & drunke strange waters, and with the sole of my feete haue I dried vp all the riuers of besieged places.

25Hast thou not heard long agoe, how I haue done it, and of ancient times that I haue formed it? now haue I brought it to passe, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heapes.

26Therefore their Inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded, they were as the grasse of the field, and as the greene herbe, as the grasse on the house tops, and as corne blasted before it be growen vp.

27But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

28Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come vp into mine eares, therefore I will put my hooke in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest.

29And this shalbe a signe vnto thee, Yee shall eate this yeere such things as grow of themselues, and in the second yeere that which springeth of the same, and in the third yeere sow ye and reape, and plant Uineyards, and eate the fruits thereof.

30And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Iudah, shall yet againe take root downeward, and beare fruit vpward.

31For out of Ierusalem shall goe forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeale of the Lord of hostes shall doe this.

32_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 shield, nor cast a banke against it:

33By the way that hee came, by the same shal he returne, and shal not come into this city, saith the Lord.

34For I will defend this citie, to saue it, for mine owne sake, and for my seruant Dauids sake.

35 And it came to passe that night, that the Angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the campe of the Assyrians, an hundred foure score and fiue thousand: and when they arose earely in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineueh.

37And it came to passe as hee was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adramelech, and Sharezer his sonnes, smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon his sonne reigned in his stead.

I == Isa 37:1

 

II == Luke 3:4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV == 2nd Sam 16:12 ; 2nd Kings 18:35 ; Ps 50:21

 

 

 

 

VI == 2nd Kings 18:17 ; Isa 37:6

 

 

 

VII == 2nd Kings 19:35-37 ; Jer 51:1

 

VIII == 2nd Kings 18:14

 

IX == 1st Sam 23:27

 

 

X == 2nd Kings 18:5

 

 

 

 

 

XII == 2nd Kings 18:33 ; Ezek 27:23

 

XIII == 2nd Kings 18:34

 

XIV == Isa 37:14

 

 

 

XV == 1st Sam 4:4 ; 1st Kings 18:39 ; Ps 80:1 ; Isa 44:6 ; Jer 10:10-12

 

XVI == 2nd Kings 19:16 ; 2nd Chr 6:40 ; Ps 31:2

 

 

XVIII == Ps 115:4 ; Jer 10:3

 

 

XIX == Ps 83:18

 

 

 

XX == Isa 37:21 ; Ps 65:2

 

 

XXI == Job 16:4 ; Ps 22:7-8 ; Lam 2:13 , 15

 

XXII == Ps 71:22 ; Isa 5:24 ; Jer 51:5

 

 

 

XXIII == 2nd Kings 18:17 ; Ps 20:7 ; Isa 10:18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXV == Isa 10:5 ; 45:7

 

 

XXVI == Ps 129:6

 

 

 

 

XXVII == Ps 139:1

XXVIII == 2nd Kings 19:33 , 36-37 ; Job 41:2 ; Ezek 29:4 ; 38:4 ; Amos 4:2

XXIX == 1st Sam 2:34 ; 2nd KIngs 20:8-9; Isa 7:11 , 14 ; Luke 2:12

XXX == 2nd Chr 32:22-23

 

XXXI == Isa 9:7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXIV == 1st Kings 11:12-13 ; 2nd Kings 20:6

XXXV == 2nd Chr 32:21 ; Isa 37:36

 

XXXVI == Gen 10:11

 

XXXVII == 2nd Kings 19:7 ; 2nd Chr 32:21 ; Ezra 4:2

 

 

 

1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his garments, wrapped himself in sackcloth, and went into the temple of the LORD.

2 He sent Eliakim, the master of the palace, Shebnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests, wrapped in sackcloth, to tell the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz,

3 "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace. Children are at the point of birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.

4 Perhaps the LORD, your God, will hear all the words of the commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke him for the words which the LORD, your God, has heard. So send up a prayer for the remnant that is here.'"

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah had come to Isaiah,

6 he said to them, "Tell this to your master: 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be frightened by the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7 I am about to put in him such a spirit that, when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own land, and there I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"

8 When the commander, on his return, heard that the king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish, he found him besieging Libnah.

9 The king of Assyria heard a report that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight against him. Again he sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message:

10 "Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?

12 Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them? Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the Edenites in Telassar?

13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or the kings of the cities Sepharvaim, Hena and Avva?'"

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the LORD, and spreading it out before him,

15 he prayed in the LORD'S presence: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

16 Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.

17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

18 and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

19 Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

20 Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria: I have listened!

21 This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him: " 'She despises you, laughs you to scorn, the virgin daughter Zion! Behind you she wags her head, daughter Jerusalem.

22 Whom have you insulted and blasphemed, against whom have you raised your voice'And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!

23 Through your servants you have insulted the LORD. You said: With my many chariots I climbed the mountain heights, the recesses of Lebanon; I cut down its lofty cedars, its choice cypresses; I reached the remotest heights, its forest park.

24 I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands; I dried up with the soles of my feet all the rivers of Egypt.

25 " 'Have you not heard? Long ago I prepared it, From days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass: That you should reduce fortified cities into heaps of ruins,

26 While their inhabitants, shorn of power, are dismayed and ashamed, Becoming like the plants of the field, like the green growth, like the scorched grass on the housetops.

27 I am aware whether you stand or sit; I know whether you come or go,

28 and also your rage against me. Because of your rage against me and your fury which has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and make you return the way you came.

29 " 'This shall be a sign for you: this year you shall eat the aftergrowth, next year, what grows of itself; But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit!

30 The remaining survivors of the house of Judah shall again strike root below and bear fruit above.

31 For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.'

32 "Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it.

33 He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD.

34 I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'"

35 That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpses of the dead.

36 So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh.

37 When he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

v 1-5. Hezekiah tore his clothes and put on sackcloth as a part of his deep grief. This time, instead of appealing to other nations, he appealed to God and to His prophet, Isaiah. Hezekiah is concerned for the remnant of Jews left in the city, and he possibly shows even more concern for the way Rabshakeh reproached the Lord.

 

 

 

 

v 6,7. Isaiah assures him from the Lord, that he need not fear Rabshakeh and Sennacherib. The latter will hear a rumor, v 8,9; return to his own land and there be assassinated by two of his sons, v 36,37.

 

v 8-13. These battles are what he heard rumors of in v 7. He warns Hezekiah not to trust God, even while he is being moved out by God. He threatens him that none of the gods of the other nations could save them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 14. When Hezekiah read the letter from the messengers he immediately went to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord, even though the Lord already knew it’s contents. It is all right for us to lay out a message or our problem before the Lord in the very same manner.

v 15-16 Notice how he honors God at the very start of his prayer. Compare Matt. 6:9.

 

v 17-19.  Hezekiah calls on God to notice how Sennacherib had reproached God, but they have destroyed other nations because they had false gods. He is not praying for deliverance for any personal reason, but to show all nations that He is the one true God. Hezekiah’s prayer is to vindicate the Lord. Contrast his selfish prayer, 20:3.

v 20. Isaiah assured Hezekiah that the Lord had heard his prayer.

 

v 21-26. Now God elaborates that Jerusalem will mock Sennacherib. He had not only reproached Jerusalem, but he had reproached the Lord, 2 Chr. 32:17, a big mistake. That bad king had boasted that his conquests were all because of his own strength, but the Lord points out that He had permitted them to be weak and  overrun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 27,28. God is aware of the Assyrian’s rage against Him, and because of that rage, God will permit enemies to lead them captive by a ring in the nose, just as they have done to their victims, thus humbling them. (A game warden once had a rage against God and Christians, wouldn’t listen to witness and tried desperately to catch me in some wrong doing. He even denounced without the slightest evidence, it was Christians of our own church who broke into our house while we were gone to church.) 

v 29-34. In  the near future Assyria would stop the siege and return to their own land without entering the city. The Jews would be able to eat harvest of volunteer crops, and the third year they would plant and harvest normally. This illustrated how the number of the people who had been decimated by Assyria would quickly multiply. Judah had sinned, so this deliverance was coming for the sake of the Lord Himself, and for his promise to David.

v 35. This supernatural slaughter by the death angel of 185,000, including mighty men, leaders and captains in one night must have made Sennacherib realize that this was truly the hand of God, so he left in shame, 2 Chr. 32:21. 2 Chr. 32:23. The prosperity here would be after the revival, 2 Chr. 31:1-21. v 36,37. Some years later, as Sennacherib was worshiping his false god, who was powerless to help him in his own temple, he was assassinated by his own sons in fulfillment of v 7. They escaped to the land of Armenia (Ararat) and Esarhadden, his son, reigned in his stead.