Isaiah 37
He Spread It Before the Lord, and the Angel Went Out
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Hezekiah Sends to Isaiah
37:1When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, wrapped himself in sackcloth, and went up to the Lord’s house.
37:2He sent Eliakim the steward, Somnas the scribe, and the elders of the priests, wrapped in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amos.
37:3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: Today is a day of distress, reproach, reproof, and wrath, for labor has come upon the woman giving birth, but she has no strength to deliver.
37:4May the Lord your God hear Rapsakes’ words, which the king of the Assyrians sent to reproach the living God and to reproach words that the Lord your God has heard. You shall petition the Lord your God for these who remain.”
37:5The king’s servants came to Isaiah,
37:6and Isaiah said to them, “You shall say this to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not fear the words you heard, with which the king of the Assyrians’ envoys reproached Me.
37:7Look, I will put a spirit into him. On hearing a report he will return to his country, and he will fall by the sword in his own land.”
37:8Rapsakes returned and found the king besieging Lomna. The king of the Assyrians heard that
The Threatening Letter and Hezekiah’s Prayer
37:9Tharaka king of the Ethiopians had come out to besiege him. On hearing this he turned back and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
37:10“You shall say this to Hezekiah king of Judea: Do not let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will certainly not be handed into the king of the Assyrians’ hands.’
37:11Or have you not heard what the kings of the Assyrians did—how they destroyed the whole earth?
37:12Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them—Gozan, Charran, and Raphes, which are in the country of Themad?
37:13Where are the kings of Aimath and Arphath, and of the city of Seppharim, Anag, and Ougaua?”
37:14Hezekiah took the document from the messengers and opened it before the Lord.
37:15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,
37:16“Lord Sabaoth, God of Israel, seated upon the cherubim, You alone are God of every kingdom of the inhabited world. You made heaven and earth.
Hear, Lord, and See
37:17Hear, Lord; look, Lord, and see the words that Sennacherib sent to reproach the living God.
37:18For the kings of the Assyrians have truly laid waste the whole inhabited world and their country,
37:19and cast their idols into the fire. For they were not gods, but works of human hands, wood and stones, and they destroyed them.
37:20But You, Lord our God, save us from their hand, so that every kingdom of the earth may know that You alone are God.”
Isaiah’s Answer to Hezekiah
37:21Isaiah son of Amos was sent to Hezekiah and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: I heard what you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.
37:22This is the word God spoke concerning him: Virgin daughter Zion despised and sneered at you; daughter Jerusalem shook her head over you.
37:23Whom did you reproach and provoke? Against whom did you raise your voice? Yet you did not lift your eyes on high toward the Holy One of Israel.
37:24For through messengers you reproached the Lord. You said, ‘With my many chariots I climbed the mountain heights and the furthest reaches of Lebanon. I cut down its cedar’s height and the cypress’s beauty, and entered the height of a part of the woodland.
37:25I laid a bridge and dried up waters and every gathering of water.’
37:26Did you not hear long ago these things I did? From ancient days I arranged them; now I have shown them: to desolate nations in strongholds and those dwelling in fortified cities.
37:27I let the hands go, and they withered and became like dry grass on roofs and like wild grass.
37:28But now I know your rest, your going out and your coming in.
37:29Your wrath with which you raged, and your bitterness, have risen to Me. I will put a muzzle in your nose and a bridle in your lips, and turn you back by the way you came.
37:30This is your sign: This year eat what you have sown, in the second year what remains, and in the third, after sowing, reap and plant vineyards; you will eat their fruit.
37:31Those remaining in Judea will grow a root below and produce seed above.
37:32For those remaining will go out from Jerusalem, and those being saved from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord Sabaoth will do these things.
Against the King of the Assyrians
37:33Therefore thus says the Lord against the king of the Assyrians: He will certainly not enter this city or shoot a missile against it; he will not bring a shield against it or surround it with a siegework.
37:34By the way he came he will return. Thus says the Lord.
37:35I will shield this city to save it, because of Me and because of David My servant.”
37:36An angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand from the Assyrians’ camp. On rising early in the morning, they found all the bodies dead.
The Assyrian Turns Back
37:37The king of the Assyrians turned back, went away, and lived in Nineveh.
37:38While he was worshiping his cult-image in the house of Nasarach, his sons Adramelech and Sarasar struck him with swords. They escaped safely to Armenia, and his son Asordan reigned in his place.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.