Isaiah 35-36 - Prayer Tents

Hope for Restoration

35Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.H4057H6723H7797H6160H1523H6524H2261 2Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.H6524H6524H1523H1525H7444H3519H3844H5414H1926H3760H8289H7200H3519H3068H1926H430 3With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees.H2388H7504H3027H553H3782H1290 4Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”H559H4116H3820H2388H3372H430H935H5359H430H1576H935H3467 5And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.H5869H5787H6491H241H2795H6605 6The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.H6455H1801H354H3956H483H7442H4057H4325H1234H5158H6160 7The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.H8273H98H6774H4002H4325H5116H8577H7258H2682H7070H1573 8And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there.H4547H1870H7121H1870H6944H2931H5674H1980H191H8582 9Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it.H738H6530H2416H5927H4672H1350H1980 10Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.H6299H3068H7725H935H6726H7440H5769H8057H7218H5381H8057H8342H3015H585H5127

Assyria Invades Judah

36In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.H702H6240H8141H4428H2396H5576H4428H804H5927H1219H5892H3063H8610 2Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.H4428H804H7971H7262H3923H3389H4428H2396H3515H2426H5975H8585H5945H1295H4546H3526H7704 3These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.H3318H471H2518H1121H1004H7644H5608H3098H623H1121H2142

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

4Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah. “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?H7262H559H559H2396H559H1419H4428H4428H804H986H982 5Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?H559H8193H1697H6098H1369H4421H982H4775 6On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!H982H4938H7533H7070H4714H376H5564H935H3709H5344H6547H4428H4714H982 7“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?H559H982H3068H430H1116H4196H2396H5493H559H3063H3389H7812H6440H4196 8“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!H6148H113H4428H804H5414H505H5483H3201H5414H7392 9With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?H7725H6440H259H6346H6996H113H5650H982H4714H7393H6571 10What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”H5927H1107H3068H776H7843H3068H559H5927H776H7843 11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”H559H471H7644H3098H7262H1696H5650H762H8085H1696H3066H241H5971H2346 12But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”H7262H559H113H7971H113H1696H1697H582H3427H2346H398H2716H6675H8354H4325H7272H7890 13Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!H7262H5975H7121H1419H6963H3066H559H8085H1697H1419H4428H4428H804 14This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you.H559H4428H2396H5377H3201H5337 15Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’H2396H982H3068H559H3068H5337H5337H5892H5414H3027H4428H804 16“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.H8085H2396H559H4428H804H6213H1293H3318H398H376H1612H376H8384H8354H376H4325H953 17Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.H935H3947H776H776H776H1715H8492H776H3899H3754 18“Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?H2396H5496H559H3068H5337H376H430H1471H5337H776H3027H4428H804 19What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?H430H2574H774H430H5617H5337H8111H3027 20What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”H430H776H5337H776H3027H3068H5337H3389H3027 21But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”H2790H6030H1697H4428H4687H559H6030 22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.H935H471H1121H2518H1004H7644H5608H3098H1121H623H2142H2396H899H7167H5046H1697H7262