Historical
Sennacherib Dares Jerusalem
36 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent the Rab-shakeh[a] from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a massive army. The Rab-shakeh stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool in the highway of the washer’s field. 3 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came out to him.
4 So the Rab-shakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ‘What is this confidence you’ve relied on? 5 I say your strategy and strength for war are only words of a lip. Who do you rely on now, so that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you rely on this splintered reed as a staff—Egypt! If a man leans on it, it will go into the palm of his hand and pierce it—thus Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
7 “‘But if you say to me: ‘We trust in Adonai our God’—is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, and then said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
8 “So now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses—if you could put riders of your own on them. 9 So, how can you repulse a single lieutenant—the least of my master’s servants? Yes, you’re relying on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen.
10 “Moreover, have I now come up against this land to destroy it without Adonai’s approval? Adonai said to me: ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh: “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the language of the Jews when the people on the wall are listening.”
12 But the Rab-shakeh said: “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Hasn’t he sent me to the men who sit on the wall—who will eat their own waste and drink their own urine with you?”
13 Then the Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the language of the Jews and said: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you! 15 Nor let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in Adonai by saying, “Adonai will surely deliver us—this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’
16 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! For thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’
18 “Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘Adonai will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, when did they deliver Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their country out of my hand? So will Adonai deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
21 But they were silent, and did not answer him a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rab-shakeh.
Hezekiah Tears His Clothes
37 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of Adonai. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe and the senior kohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.
3 Then they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, rebuke and contempt. For children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength for giving birth. 4 Perhaps Adonai your God, will hear the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which Adonai your God has heard. So offer prayer for the remnant that is left.”
5 When the officials of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them: “Thus you will say to your master, ‘Thus says Adonai: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the boys of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor, and will return to his own country; then I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8 Then the Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard he had withdrawn from Lachish. 9 Now he had heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying: “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying: 10 “Thus you will say to King Hezekiah of Judah, saying, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying: ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands—utterly destroying them—so will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those my fathers destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, or Ivvah?’”
14 Then Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it.
Then Hezekiah went up to the House of Adonai and spread it before Adonai. 15 Hezekiah prayed to Adonai saying: 16 “Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of Israel, who is enthroned upon the cheruvim, You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, Adonai, and hear! Open Your eyes, Adonai, and see! Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who was sent to mock the living God. 18 It is true, Adonai, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire—for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Adonai our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are Adonai!”
Answered Prayer and Sennacherib’s Demise
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: ‘Because you prayed to Me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Adonai has spoken about him:
“The virgin Daughter of Zion
will despise you and mock you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
will shake her head at you.
23 Whom did you taunt and blaspheme?
Against whom did you raise your voice
and haughtily lift up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 Through your servants,
you have blasphemed my Lord and said:
‘With my many chariots
I have climbed to the heights of the mountains,
to the remotest parts of Lebanon!
I cut down its tall cedars
and choice cypress trees.
I have gone to its farthest peak,
its thickest forest.
25 I dug and drank water,
and with the sole of my feet,
I dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
26 Have you not heard?
I did it long ago!
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass—
that you should turn fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants are weak handed,
shattered and ashamed.
They are like the grass of the field
and green herb,
like grass on roofs,
scorched before it is grown up.
28 But I know your sitting down,
your going out and your coming in,
and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me
and your arrogance reached My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose,
and My bridle in your lips,
and I will turn you back
by the way that you came.”
30 So this shall be the sign to you: This year you will eat what grows by itself, in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For from Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot shall perform this.”
33 Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not come to the city,
or shoot an arrow there,
or come before it with a shield,
or throw up a siege-ramp against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return,
and he will not come into this city”
—it is a declaration of Adonai.
35 “For I will defend this city to save it,
for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.”
36 Then the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria withdrew, and returned home, and stayed in Nineveh. 38 It also came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of his god Nisroch, that his sons Adrammelech and Sarezer struck him down with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ararat. Then his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.
“Put Your House In Order”
38 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Adonai: Put your house in order. For you are dying, and will not live.”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Adonai. 3 He said: “Please, Adonai, remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then it came to pass, the word of Adonai came to Isaiah saying: 5 “Go, and say to Hezekiah, thus says Adonai, the God of your father David: ‘I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.’
7 “Now this will be the sign to you from Adonai, that Adonai will do this word He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairs, which went down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, to turn back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
9 A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after his illness, when he recovered from his illness:
10 I said: “In the prime of my life,
I am to enter the gates of Sheol.
I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said: “I will not see Adonai,
Adonai, in the land of the living.
I will look on humanity no longer
among the inhabitants of the world.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent,
my dwelling is pulled up and carried away from me.
Like a weaver I rolled up my life.
He cuts me off from the loom.
From day until night You make my end.
13 I stilled my soul till morning.
Like a lion, He will break all my bones.
From day till night You make my end.
14 Like a swallow or a crane, I whisper,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary, looking upward.
Adonai, I am oppressed, be my security!
15 What should I say?
For He has spoken to me—
He Himself has done it!
I will wander about all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 Adonai, by such things men live,
and my spirit has life in them too.
Restore me to health,
and let me live!
17 Behold, it was for my own shalom
that I had great bitterness.
You have loved my soul
out of the Pit of destruction!
For You have flung all my sins
behind Your back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You,
death cannot praise You.
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise You—
as I do today.
A father makes Your faithfulness
known to his children.
20 Adonai will save me.
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
all the days of our life in the House of Adonai.”
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, and he will live.” 22 Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the House of Adonai?”
Hezekiah Shows Off
39 At that time Merodach-baladan, son of King Baladan of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Now Hezekiah was pleased with them, so he showed them his treasure house—the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil—and his whole armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”
Hezekiah replied, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
4 Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”
Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing among my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Hear the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot, 6 ‘Behold, days are coming when everything in your house, which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon—nothing will be left,’ says Adonai. 7 ‘Moreover, some of your descendants—who will issue from you, whom you will father—will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Adonai which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be shalom and security in my days.”
Comfort, Proclaim Good News
40 “Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
2 Speak kindly to the heart of Jerusalem
and proclaim to her
that her warfare has ended,
that her iniquity has been removed.
For she has received from Adonai’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of Adonai,
Make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
every mountain and hill made low,
the rough ground will be a plain
and the rugged terrain smooth.
5 The glory of Adonai will be revealed,
and all flesh will see it together.”
For the mouth of Adonai has spoken.
6 A voice is saying, “Cry out!”
So I said, “What shall I cry out?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades.
For the breath of Adonai blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades.
But the word of our God stands forever.”[c]
9 Get yourself up on a high mountain,
you who bring good news to Zion!
Lift up your voice with strength,
you who bring good news to Jerusalem!
Lift it up! Do not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah:
“Behold your God!”
10 Look, Adonai Elohim comes with might,
with His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.[d]
11 Like a shepherd, He tends His flock.[e]
He gathers the lambs in His arms
carries them in his bosom,
and gently guides nursing ewes.
Who Is Like Him?
12 Who has measured the waters in the palm of His hand,
or measured out heaven with a span,
or calculated the dust of the earth in a measure,
or weighed the mountains in scales,
or the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Ruach Adonai?
Or instruct Him as His counselor?
14 With whom did He consult,
and who instructed Him?
Who taught Him in the path of justice
or taught Him knowledge?
Who informed Him about
the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and count as a speck of dust on the scales.
Behold, the islands weigh as fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough to burn,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him.
By Him they are accounted null and void.
18 To whom then will you liken God?
To what likeness will you compare Him?
19 To an idol? A craftsman casts it,
a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 One too poor for such an offering
chooses wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to prepare him an idol that will not totter.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 He sits above the circle of the earth—
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers—
He stretches out the skies like a curtain,
spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing.
He makes the judges of the earth a confusion.
24 Scarcely are they planted,
scarcely are they sown,
scarcely their stem takes root in the earth,
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a storm carries them off as stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me?
Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see!
Who created these?
The One who brings out their host by number,
the One who calls them all by name.
Because of His great strength and vast power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from Adonai,
and the justice due me escapes
the notice of my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Adonai is the eternal God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow tired or weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives strength to the weary,
and to one without vigor He adds might.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but they who wait for Adonai
will renew their strength.
They will soar up with wings as eagles.
They will run, and not grow weary.
They will walk, and not be faint.
Coming Conqueror
41 “Be silent before Me, O islands!
Let peoples renew their strength.
Let them draw near, then let them speak.
Let us come together for judgment.
2 Who has stirred up one from the east?
He calls justice to His feet.
He gives nations over to him and subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword, as driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, passing on safely,
by a path his feet had not traveled.
4 Who has performed and done it?
Calling forth the generations from the beginning,
I, Adonai, am the first and the last,
I am He!”
5 The coastlands have seen and fear.
The ends of the earth tremble.
They draw near and come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 The craftsman encourages the smith,
who smooths with the hammer,
who strikes with the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It’s good!”
as he fastens it with nails so that it will not totter.
My Servant, My Friend
8 “But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
descendant of Abraham, My friend—
9 I took hold of you from the ends of the earth,
and called from its uttermost parts,
and said to you, ‘You are My servant—
I have chosen you, not rejected you.[f]
10 Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
Surely I will help you.
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
11 Behold, all who were angry at you
will be ashamed and disgraced.
Those who quarrel with you
will be as nothing and perish.
12 Though you will look for those who contended with you,
you will not find them.
Those who warred against you
will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am Adonai your God who upholds your right hand,
who says to you,
“Fear not, I will help you.”
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I will help you.”
It is a declaration of Adonai,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Look, I will make you a threshing sledge,
new, with sharp, double-edged spikes.
You will thresh the mountains and grind them up,
and will make the hills like chaff.
16 You will winnow them,
and a wind will carry them away,
a storm-wind will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in Adonai.
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The poor and needy ask for water,
but there is none,
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Adonai, will answer them,
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare hills
and springs in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
and the dry land into fountains of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the olive tree.
I will set in the desert the cypress tree
and the pine together with the box tree—
20 so they may see and know,
consider and understand together,
that the hand of Adonai has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
Challenge to Idolaters
21 “Present your case,” says Adonai.
“Bring forth your reasons,”
says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring forth and tell us
what will happen.
The former things, what were they?
Tell us, that we may consider them
and know their outcome.
Or announce to us things to come.
23 Declare the things coming afterward,
so we may know that you are gods!
Indeed, do good or do evil,
so we may all see and be awestruck.
24 Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is null.
Whoever chooses you is loathsome.
25 “I have stirred up one from the north,
and he has come.
From the rising of the sun,
He will call upon My Name.
He will trample rulers as on mortar,
like a potter treading clay.”
26 Who told this from the beginning,
so that we may know?
Or from former times,
so we may say, “He is right”?
In fact, no one foretold it,
In fact, no one announced it.
In fact, no one heard Your words.
27 First it was to Zion:
“Behold, here they are!”
And to Jerusalem:
“I will give a herald of good news.”[g]
28 But when I look, there is no one.
There is no counselor among them.
When I ask them, they have no response.
29 Indeed, they are all a delusion.
Their works are null.
Their molten images are wind and waste.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.