Isaiah 37

When King Hezekiah heard this report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, the rough cloth people wore to show grief, and he went into the LORD's house.

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

NoteThe report is the Assyrian demand for surrender delivered outside Jerusalem's wall in the previous chapter. Assyria was the dominant empire of the age; its king Sennacherib had already overrun most of Judah's fortified towns, and Jerusalem was cut off. Tearing one's clothes was the standard public sign of grief, horror or mourning in this culture, not a loss of temper. "The LORD's house" is the temple in Jerusalem. Where the text prints LORD in this form it stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, which the Hebrew writes with four consonants (roughly YHWH); ordinary "Lord" translates a different word meaning master.

2He sent Eliakim, the man in charge of the palace, along with Shebna the scribe and the leading priests, all of them wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

Note"Scribe" here is a high office of state, something like secretary or chancellor, not a copyist. Eliakim and Shebna are the two senior officials of Hezekiah's government, and both appear earlier in Isaiah. Sending them, rather than a servant, marks the seriousness of the errand.

3They said to him, "Hezekiah says this: Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of disgrace. It is as if children have reached the moment of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

NoteA proverb for a crisis that has reached its decisive moment with no strength left to carry it through: the labor has gone as far as it can go and the child cannot be born.

4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to insult the living God, and will punish him for the words the LORD your God has heard. So pray for the remnant of us who are still left."

4It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

Note"Rabshakeh" is an Assyrian title, not a personal name, a senior court official (the term is connected with chief cupbearer), here acting as the king's spokesman and negotiator. "Remnant" is a key word in Isaiah: the fraction of a people left alive after a disaster. With most of Judah's towns taken, Jerusalem's population was literally what was left.

5So King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah.

5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master this is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, the words the servants of the king of Assyria used to insult me.

6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7Listen: I will put a spirit in him, so that he will hear a report and go back to his own country. And in his own country I will have him fall by the sword."

7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

Note"A spirit" translates a word that also means wind or breath; the sense is an impulse or disposition put into him from outside. The prediction has two parts (a rumor that pulls him home, and a violent death there) and verse 38 reports the second.

8So the Rabshakeh went back and found the king of Assyria fighting against the town of Libnah, because he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

NoteLachish was Judah's second city, a heavily fortified place about thirty miles south-west of Jerusalem; Sennacherib's own palace reliefs, now in the British Museum, show its capture in detail. Libnah was another town in the same region. The king has moved his siege on to the next target.

9Now the king of Assyria had heard a report about Tirhakah, king of Cush, the land south of Egypt: "He has marched out to fight you." When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this message:

9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

NoteCush is the kingdom on the Nile south of Egypt, in what is now Sudan; at this period its rulers also held the Egyptian throne. Tirhakah is Taharqa, a real Nubian-Egyptian king. An Egyptian army marching north is exactly the threat that would force Sennacherib to break off and settle matters at Jerusalem quickly.

10"Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let your God, the one you trust, fool you by saying, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.'

10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to every land, wiping them out completely. So will you be rescued?

11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?

12Did the gods of the nations rescue those nations when my ancestors destroyed them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?

12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

NoteA list of places Assyria had already swallowed, running across northern Mesopotamia and Syria: Gozan on the Habur river, Haran an ancient caravan city, Rezeph on the desert road, and Beth-Eden (Bit-Adini) with its town Telassar on the upper Euphrates. The point of the list is that these were substantial states with their own gods, and none of them survived.

13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivah?"

13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

NoteHamath and Arpad were major city-states in Syria; Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah were other conquered towns. "Where is the king of..." means the throne is empty, the dynasty was wiped out or deported. Assyria routinely deported defeated populations and destroyed or carried off their gods' images.

14Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the LORD's house and spread the letter open before the LORD.

14And Hezekiah received 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.

NoteLaying a document out in the sanctuary was a recognized act in the ancient Near East: the matter is physically placed before the god so that he becomes a party to it. Hezekiah is submitting the letter as evidence rather than simply praying about it.

15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:

15And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

16"LORD of the armies of heaven, God of Israel, you who sit enthroned above the cherubim, the winged figures in the temple: you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

16O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

Note"LORD of hosts" is a title meaning commander of armies, the heavenly ones, and by extension all the powers of the world. The cherubim are not infants but composite winged creatures; two gold figures stood over the chest in the temple's inner room, and the space above them was spoken of as God's throne. Calling him God of all the kingdoms of the earth directly answers the Assyrian claim that each nation has its own local god.

17Turn your ear, LORD, and listen. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear all the words Sennacherib sent to insult the living God.

17Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

18It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all those nations and their lands,

18Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,

19and have thrown their gods into the fire. But those were not gods at all, only wood and stone made by human hands, and that is why they could be destroyed.

19And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

NoteThe Assyrians burned the wooden images and carried off the stone and metal ones. Hezekiah's argument turns the Rabshakeh's evidence around: those gods fell because they were manufactured objects.

20So now, LORD our God, save us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD."

20Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:

22this is the word the LORD has spoken against him: 'The virgin daughter of Zion, which means the city of Jerusalem, looks down on you and laughs at you. Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head at you.

22This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

NoteZion is the hill Jerusalem stands on, and "daughter of Zion" personifies the city as a young woman. "Virgin" here means untaken, no enemy has ever forced his way in. Shaking the head at someone was a gesture of contempt, the ancient equivalent of jeering as a beaten opponent walks away.

23Whom have you insulted and mocked? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your proud eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

Note"The Holy One of Israel" is Isaiah's characteristic title for God, used some twenty-five times in this book and rarely elsewhere. Lifting the eyes high is a standard Hebrew image for arrogance.

24Through your servants you have insulted the Lord. You said, "With my many chariots I have climbed to the tops of the mountains, to the far heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest fir trees. I have reached its farthest heights, its thickest forest.

24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.

NoteThis is a parody of the boasting inscriptions Assyrian kings actually carved. The cedar and cypress forests of the Lebanon range were the most prized timber in the region, felled and hauled away by conquering kings as proof of reach. The last phrase, literally "the forest of his Carmel", uses a word for garden land or orchard: the deepest, most fertile interior. Whether these mountains stand for Lebanon itself or, symbolically, for Judah and its temple hill is left open.

25I have dug wells and drunk water, and with the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."

25I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

NoteThe boast of a besieger: he can dig for water anywhere, and his troops are so numerous that they can wade a river dry. The streams are the branches and canals of the Nile, so the claim is to have overrun Egypt itself.

26Have you not heard? Long ago I decided this; in ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it about, so that you turn strong walled cities into heaps of rubble.

26Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.

NoteThe answer to the boast: the conqueror was an instrument in a plan laid long before him, so the destruction he takes credit for was not his own achievement.

27That is why their people had little power. They were dismayed and ashamed. They were like plants in a field, like tender green shoots, like grass on a rooftop, scorched before it can grow.

27Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

NoteRoofs were flat and made of packed earth, so windblown seed sprouted on them and died within days for lack of soil. A field scorched by the hot east wind before the grain heads out is the same picture, growth that never reaches harvest.

28But I know where you live, when you go out and when you come in, and how you rage against me.

28But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

29Because your rage against me and your loud boasting have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back the way you came.'

29Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

NoteNot a metaphor invented for the occasion. Assyrian reliefs and texts show prisoners led by a cord attached to a ring through the lip or nose, and the bit is the mouthpiece by which a horse is controlled. The conqueror is to be handled the way he handled others.

30"And this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what grows from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as 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.

NoteThe sign concerns farming under invasion. The year's sowing has been lost, so for two seasons people live on volunteer growth, grain that comes up from spilled seed and from the stubble of that crop. The third year they sow and plant vines again, and planting vineyards means expecting to still be there years later, since vines take several seasons to bear.

31The people of the house of Judah who survive and are left will again send roots down and bear fruit above.

31And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

32For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The burning devotion of the LORD of the armies of heaven will do this.

32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

Note"Zeal" translates a word meaning fierce, jealous passion, the same energy a person feels over something that is exclusively theirs. It is the guarantee attached to the promise, not a description of the survivors.

33So 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 against it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it.

33Therefore 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 a bank against it.

NoteThe standard siege procedure: archers to clear the wall, large body-shields to cover men working at its base, and an earth ramp piled against the wall so troops and battering rams could reach the top. The promise is that none of it will happen.

34He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, says the LORD.

34By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

35I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

35For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

NoteJerusalem was David's capital, and a promise to David's line was attached to it. "For my own sake" makes the reason the defender's own reputation, which the Assyrian messages had challenged, rather than any merit in the city.

36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When people got up early the next morning, there they all were, dead bodies.

36Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

Note"Angel" means messenger; the text names the agent but not the method, and the reader is told only the result found at daybreak. The Greek historian Herodotus preserved a separate story of Sennacherib's army being crippled overnight in this campaign. Assyrian records, which never admit defeat, say only that Hezekiah was shut up in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage", and notably do not claim the city was taken.

37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and went back home, and he stayed in Nineveh.

37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

NoteNineveh, on the Tigris near modern Mosul, was Sennacherib's capital and the largest city of the empire.

38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword and escaped to the land of Armenia, also called Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

38And it came to 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 Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

NoteThe murder is historical: Sennacherib was assassinated by his sons in 681 BC, about twenty years after this campaign, and Esarhaddon fought his way to the throne. Nisroch is not otherwise known and the name may be a corruption of an Assyrian god's name. Ararat, which the King James Version calls Armenia, is the mountainous kingdom of Urartu north of Assyria, outside Esarhaddon's reach.