Isaiah 37
37When King Hezekiah heard the report, he also tore his clothes and dressed in rough, penitential burlap gunnysacks, and went into the sanctuary of GOD.H4428H2396H8085H7167H899H3680H8242H935H1004H30682He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them also dressed in penitential burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.H7971H471H1004H7644H5608H2205H3548H3680H8242H3470H5030H1121H5313They said to him, "Hezekiah says, 'This is a black day. We're in crisis. We're like pregnant women without even the strength to have a baby!H559H559H2396H3117H3117H6869H8433H5007H1121H935H4866H3581H32054Do you think your GOD heard what the Rabshekah said, sent by his master the king of Assyria to mock the living God? And do you think your GOD will do anything about it? Pray for us, Isaiah. Pray for those of us left here holding the fort!'"H3068H430H8085H1697H7262H4428H804H113H7971H2778H2416H430H3198H1697H3068H430H8085H5375H8605H7611H46725Then King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah.H5650H4428H2396H935H34706Isaiah said, "Tell your master this: 'GOD's Message: Don't be upset by what you've heard, all those words the servants of the Assyrian king have used to mock me.H3470H559H559H113H559H3068H3372H6440H1697H8085H5288H4428H804H14427I personally will take care of him. I'll arrange it so that he'll get a rumor of bad news back home and rush home to take care of it. And he'll die there. Killed—a violent death.'"H5414H7307H8085H8052H7725H776H5307H2719H7768The Rabshekah left and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. (He had gotten word that the king had left Lachish.)H7262H7725H4672H4428H804H3898H3841H8085H5265H39239Just then the Assyrian king received an intelligence report on King Tirhakah of Ethiopia: "He is on his way to make war on you." On hearing that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with instructions to deliver this message:H8085H559H8640H4428H3568H3318H3898H8085H7971H4397H2396H55910"Don't let your GOD, on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won't fall to the king of Assyria.H559H2396H4428H3063H559H430H982H5377H559H3389H5414H3027H4428H80411Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world—one country after another devastated! And do you think you're going to get off?H8085H4428H804H6213H776H2763H533712Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?H430H1471H5337H1H7843H1470H2771H7530H1121H5729H851513Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?"H4428H2574H4428H774H4428H5892H5617H2012H575514Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of GOD and spread the letter out before GOD.H2396H3947H5612H3027H4397H7121H2396H5927H1004H3068H6566H6440H306815Then Hezekiah prayed to GOD:H2396H6419H3068H55916"GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth.H3068H6635H430H3478H3427H3742H430H4467H776H6213H8064H77617Listen, O GOD, and hear. Look, O GOD, and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God.H5186H241H3068H8085H6491H5869H3068H7200H8085H1697H5576H7971H2778H2416H43018It's quite true, O GOD, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands.H551H3068H4428H804H2717H776H77619They've thrown their gods into the trash and burned them—no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods!H5414H430H784H430H4639H120H3027H6086H68H620But now step in, O GOD, our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are GOD."H3068H430H3467H3027H4467H776H3045H306821Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this word to Hezekiah: "GOD's Message, the God of Israel: Because you brought King Sennacherib of Assyria to me in prayer,H3470H1121H531H7971H2396H559H559H3068H430H3478H6419H5576H4428H80422here is my answer, GOD's answer: "'She has no use for you, Sennacherib, nothing but contempt, this virgin daughter Zion. She spits at you and turns on her heel, this daughter Jerusalem.H1697H3068H1696H1330H1323H6726H959H3932H1323H3389H5128H7218H31023"'Who do you think you've been mocking and reviling all these years? Who do you think you've been jeering and treating with such utter contempt All these years? The Holy of Israel!H2778H1442H7311H6963H5375H5869H4791H6918H347824You've used your servants to mock the Master. You've bragged, "With my fleet of chariots I've gone to the highest mountain ranges, penetrated the far reaches of Lebanon, Chopped down its giant cedars, its finest cypresses. I conquered its highest peak, explored its deepest forest.H3027H5650H2778H136H559H7230H7393H5927H4791H2022H3411H3844H3772H6967H730H4005H1265H935H4791H7093H3293H376025I dug wells and drank my fill. I emptied the famous rivers of Egypt with one kick of my foot.H6979H8354H4325H3709H6471H2717H2975H469326"'Haven't you gotten the news that I've been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine and I'm just now making it happen, using you to devastate strong cities, turning them into piles of rubbleH8085H7350H6213H6924H3117H3335H935H7582H1219H5892H5327H153027and leaving their citizens helpless, bewildered, and confused, drooping like unwatered plants, stunted like withered seedlings.H3427H7116H3027H2865H954H6212H7704H3419H1877H2682H1406H7709H6440H705428"'I know all about your pretentious poses, your officious comings and goings, and, yes, the tantrums you throw against me.H3045H3427H3318H935H726429Because of all your wild raging against me, your unbridled arrogance that I keep hearing of, I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I'll show you who's boss. I'll turn you around and take you back to where you came from.H7264H7600H5927H241H7760H2397H639H4964H8193H7725H1870H93530"'And this, Hezekiah, will be your confirming sign: This year's crops will be slim pickings, and next year it won't be much better. But in three years, farming will be back to normal, with regular sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting.H226H398H8141H5599H8145H8141H7823H7992H8141H2232H7114H5193H3754H398H652931What's left of the people of Judah will put down roots and make a new start.H7604H6413H1004H3063H3254H8328H4295H6213H6529H460532The people left in Jerusalem will get moving again. Mount Zion survivors will take hold again. The zeal of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this.'H3389H3318H7611H6413H2022H6726H7068H3068H6635H621333"Finally, this is GOD's verdict on the king of Assyria: "'Don't worry, he won't enter this city, won't let loose a single arrow, Won't brandish so much as one shield, let alone build a siege ramp against it.H559H3068H4428H804H935H5892H3384H2671H6923H4043H8210H555034He'll go back the same way he came. He won't set a foot in this city. GOD's Decree.H1870H935H7725H935H5892H5002H306835I've got my hand on this city to save it, Save it for my very own sake, but also for the sake of my David dynasty.'"H1598H5892H3467H5650H173236Then the Angel of GOD arrived and struck the Assyrian camp—185,000 Assyrians died. By the time the sun came up, they were all dead—an army of corpses!H4397H3068H3318H5221H4264H804H3967H8084H2568H505H7925H1242H4191H629737Sennacherib, king of Assyria, got out of there fast, back home to Nineveh.H5576H4428H804H5265H3212H7725H3427H521038As he was worshiping in the sanctuary of his god Nisroch, he was murdered by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer. They escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became the next king.H7812H1004H5268H430H152H8272H1121H5221H2719H4422H776H780H634H1121H4427
Columbus, OH
