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Isaiah

Isaiahchapter 37

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A.Hezekiah in Sackcloth Sends Word to Isaiahvv. 1-7

1 On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz 3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. 4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.” 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6 who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

B.The Letter Spread Out Before the LORDvv. 8-20

8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. 9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? 12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? 13 Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’” 14 So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16 “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. 18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. 19 They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. 20 And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

C.A Hook in Assyria's Nose, a Bridle in His Lipsvv. 21-35

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you. 23 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests. 25 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.” 26 Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble. 27 Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown. 28 But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me. 29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’ 30 And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above. 32 For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. 33 So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it. 34 He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city,’ declares the LORD. 35 ‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”

D.The Angel of the LORD, and Sennacherib's Endvv. 36-38

36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

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Chapter summary

Hezekiah tears his clothes at the Assyrian threats, sends Eliakim, Shebna, and the elder priests in sackcloth to Isaiah, and receives the answer: Jehovah will put a spirit in Sennacherib and send him home to fall by the sword.

Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾

Hezekiah tears his clothes at the Assyrian threats, sends Eliakim, Shebna, and the elder priests in sackcloth to Isaiah, and receives the answer: Jehovah will put a spirit in Sennacherib and send him home to fall by the sword. Sennacherib, warring at Libnah and hearing that Tirhakah of Ethiopia marches out, sends a boasting letter naming Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, Hamath, and Arpad, gods that saved no one. Hezekiah spreads the letter before Jehovah and prays that the God enthroned above the cherubim, maker of heaven and earth, save Judah so all kingdoms may know him alone. Jehovah answers through Isaiah: the virgin daughter of Zion scorns the blasphemer; a hook in his nose turns him back; a remnant takes root; the city stands for David's sake. The angel of Jehovah strikes 185,000 in the Assyrian camp; Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, where his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer kill him.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview

  • A. 1–7 Hezekiah in Sackcloth Sends Word to Isaiah
  • B. 8–20 The Letter Spread Out Before the LORD
  • C. 21–35 A Hook in Assyria's Nose, a Bridle in His Lips
  • D. 36–38 The Angel of the LORD, and Sennacherib's End
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • 2 Kings 1910 verses
    • 2 Kings 19:1On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
    • 2 Kings 19:3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
    • 2 Kings 19:13Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
    • 2 Kings 19:14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
    • 2 Kings 19:23Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
    • 2 Kings 19:26Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
    • Read 2 Kings 19: 4 more there →
  • Isaiah 104 verses
    • Isaiah 10:9“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
    • Isaiah 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
    • Isaiah 10:18The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.
    • Isaiah 10:32Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
    • Read Isaiah 10 →
  • Isaiah 363 verses
    • Isaiah 36:15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
    • Isaiah 36:18Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
    • Isaiah 36:20Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
    • Read Isaiah 36 →
  • 2 Kings 183 verses
    • 2 Kings 18:5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.
    • 2 Kings 18:11The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
    • 2 Kings 18:34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
    • Read 2 Kings 18 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • Isaiah 373 verses
    • Isaiah 37:4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
    • Isaiah 37:29Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
    • Isaiah 37:34He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city,’ declares the LORD.
    • Read Isaiah 37 →
  • Isaiah 12 verses
    • Isaiah 1:1This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
    • Isaiah 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
    • Read Isaiah 1 →
  • Isaiah 312 verses
    • Isaiah 31:5Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”
    • Isaiah 31:8“Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man; a sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.
    • Read Isaiah 31 →
  • 2 Kings 202 verses
    • 2 Kings 20:6I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
    • 2 Kings 20:9And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”
    • Read 2 Kings 20 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.