Isaiah 37:5
in Isaiah 37So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
KJV
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
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This verse in Isaiah 37
Commentary
4 notes on this verseSo the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And delivered the above message to him from the king: these servants are mentioned Isa 37:2. Musculus thinks that the third and fourth verses are the words of the king to the messengers, and not of the messengers to the prophet; and that the first clause of the "third" verse should be rendered, "that they might say unto him", &c.; and having received their instructions, here is an account of their going to the prophet with them, which they delivered to him, and which it was not necessary to repeat.
This site's exposition
lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left
on Isaiah 37:4-5
The embassy's request to Isaiah names what Rabshakeh has actually done, reproach the living God, and asks the prophet to pray because the king cannot see past the siege to know whether the Lord will answer. Barnes notes the careful phrase, it may be, a request framed in hope rather than presumption, from men who have just watched a besieged city with no answer of its own. The remnant that is left is the same word this chapter returns to at verse 32, the size of what still stands inside the walls.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Chapter 37, Verse 1 and following) Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what the field commander had said. When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, 'This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.' If you want to know how the Lord your God heard the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, sent to blaspheme the living God and to reproach the words that the Lord your God heard, lift up a prayer for the remainder that have been found. Then the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, and Isaiah said to them: 'Thus you shall say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed me.' Behold, I will give to him the spirit, and he will hear the message, and he will return to his land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his land. Leaving aside the clear things, let us discuss only those in which the hidden meaning is present. They tear their clothes because they hear Rabshekah blaspheming. The king himself tears his own clothes because he believed it to be his and the people's sins that Rabshekah has come all the way to the gate of Jerusalem and has spoken such things against the Lord. Whereupon, the high priest, because he believed that he had blasphemed the Savior, tore his garments (Matt. […]
And when the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, the name of the Prophet was silent again, so that he would preserve the humility that had been started. And Isaiah anticipated them: for with the same spirit with which he knew the future, he had also heard the absent king: and he said what they should respond to their Lord, humbled in this trust of conscience. He said, 'Say to your master, who is your Lord; for my Lord says these things: Do not fear the words by which not you, but I am blasphemed.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עַבְדֵ֛י | ʾavdei | [the] servants of | H5650 → | 799 times |
| הַמֶּ֥לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּ | chizkiyahu | Hezekiah | H2396 → | 127 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְשַׁעְיָֽהוּ׃ | yesha'yahu | Isaiah | H3470 → | 39 times |
וַיָּבֹ֗אוּand they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
עַבְדֵ֛י[the] servants of
ʾavdeiH5650 →799 times
הַמֶּ֥לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּHezekiah
chizkiyahuH2396 →127 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְשַׁעְיָֽהוּ׃Isaiah
yesha'yahuH3470 →39 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Isaiah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonLate 8th century BCE / Divided KingdomIsaiahEighth-century BCE prophet of Judah whose oracles make up the book of Isaiah; a central voice for messianic prophecy.
- PersonDivided kingdomHezekiahThe reforming king of Judah who trusted Jehovah against Sennacherib, spread the Assyrian letter before the LORD, was granted fifte…
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.