XXXVII. 1 And it came to pass, when the 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, who was over the house, and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the people, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son. of Amoz.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and chastisement, and contempt; 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 the words of Rab- shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord hath sent to reproach the living God, and will chastise the words which the Lord thy God hath heard; and thou wilt lift up prayer for the remnant that is found.
5 And the servants of the king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And- Isaiah said unto them, Thus- shall ye say unto your lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, wherewith the young men of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ᾇ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall bear a message, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria waning against Libnah, for he had heard that he had broken up from Lachish.
9 Ahd he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, He is gone forth to war against thee. And he heard, and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive ’ saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, thyself hast heard what the kings of Assyria have I done to all the lands, putting them under the ban; and shalt thou be delivered;
12 Did the gods of the nations, which my fathers destroyed, deliver them? as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena and IvvahP
14 And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the Lord
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord saying,
16 O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made the heavens and the earth.
17 Incline thine ear, Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God.
18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands, and their land,
19 And have given their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of ’s hands, wood and stone; and have destroyed them. ’
20 And now, LORD our God, save us from his hand: and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that thou art the LORD, thou alone.
21 And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, As to what thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, hath mocked thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head after thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? and against whom hast thou raised high thy voice? thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the height of the mountains, the recesses of Lebanon; and I will cut down the ’loftiness of his cedars, the choice of his fir-trees; and I will come into the height of his border, the forest of his garden-land.
25 I have digged, and drunk waters; and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the canals of Mazor. ’
26 Hast thou not heard? from long ago I made it, from ancient days I formed it; now have I brought it to pass, and thou hast been (destined) to lay waste, as ruinous heaps, fortified cities.
27 And their inhabitants were short of hand, they were dis- mayed and ashamed: they were (as) grass of the field, and green ’algke, grass of the hoUse tops, and a cornfield before it stands in stalk
28 And thy down-sitting, and thy going out and thy coming in I know, andthy rage, against me.
29 Because thy rage against me and. thy recklessness is come up into mine ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which 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 thereof.
31 And the escaped of the house of Judah that are left, shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion; the jealousy of the LORD of Hosts shall do this.
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 up a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
35 And I will protect this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant ’s sake.
36 And the. angel ’the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of Assyria an hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and (men) arose earl in the morning, and behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 And Sennacherib king of Assyria broke up, and went, and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came ’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 Ararat; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Isaias. . ed. Richard Rusden Ottley. Germany. 2016.
Sponsored by University of Leipzig.
Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.