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Isaiah 37

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Hezekiah Seeks Counsel from Isaiah 1–7

1
And 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 Jehovah. ​
2
And 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.
3
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ​
4
It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ​
5
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ​
7
Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return unto his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. ​

Assyria Renews the Threat 8–13

8
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9
And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come out to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ​
10
Thus 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.
11
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
12
Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?
13
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

Hezekiah's Prayer in the Temple 14–20

14
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. ​
15
And Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah, saying,
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O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. ​
17
Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to defy the living God.
18
Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries, and their land,
19
and 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. ​
20
Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only. ​

Isaiah Delivers the Lord's Prophecy 21–35

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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
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this is the word which Jehovah hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. ​
23
Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. ​
24
By thy servants hast thou defied the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof; and I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field;
25
I have digged and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
26
Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ​
27
Therefore 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 a field of grain before it is grown up.
28
But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.
29
Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogancy 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. ​
30
And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in 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. ​
31
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ​
32
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
33
Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. ​
34
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah.
35
For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. ​

The Lord Delivers Jerusalem 36–38

36
And the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ​
37
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. ​
38
And 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 Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 37

Verse 1

into the house of the LORD — Hezekiah 'rent his clothes' (qara) and put on sackcloth (saq), the torn clothes his officers wore in 36:22, and went up to the temple. The king whose court had once looked to Egypt for help (31:1) now brings the Assyrian threat to the LORD, as 2 Kgs 19:1 also records.

Verse 3

the children are come to the birth — The figure is a birth that stalls: mashber is the place of breaking forth, and there is no koach, strength, to deliver. The LORD answers the image in Isa 66:9, 'Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?' 'Rebuke' (tochechah) and 'blasphemy' (neatsah, scorn) name the day as both chastening and contempt.

Verse 4

the remnant that is left — Sheerit, a remainder, is the word of v.32 too, 'a remnant'. 'Lift up' is nasa, the verb of 33:10 and 33:24. 'Rabshakeh' is a title, from rab, chief, and shaqah, to give drink. The Assyrian sent 'to reproach' (charaph) 'the living God' (chay), the verb that comes back in v.23; the contrast with dead idols is drawn in v.19.

Verse 6

Be not afraid — Isaiah brings the message of 35:4, 'fear not' (yare). 'Blasphemed' is gadaph, to hack with words, and 'servants' is naar, the young men of the Assyrian king. Isaiah's own name, Yeshayahu, means 'Jah has saved', a word whose root (yasha) runs through the chapter, as in vv.20 and 35.

Verse 7

I will send a blast upon him — 'Blast' is ruach, spirit or wind, put into him, and the 'rumour' (shemuah) is what he hears, the news of Tirhakah in v.9. The two clauses that follow, 'return to his own land' and 'fall by the sword', are fulfilled in v.37 and v.38. The verb 'return' (shuv) is the one used of him in vv.29 and 37.

Verse 9

Tirhakah king of Ethiopia — Tirhaqah is a king of Kush, the KJV's Ethiopia. The report of his march is the 'rumour' of v.7, and Sennacherib sends messengers to Hezekiah again. The deliverance of v.36 comes by the angel, and the LORD had said that Egypt and those who seek its help 'shall fail together' (31:3).

Verse 14

spread it before the LORD — The letter is a sepher, the word for the 'book of the LORD' in 34:16 and the 'scroll' of 34:4. Hezekiah reads (qara) it and goes up to the temple to spread (paras) it out in the LORD's presence. The setting is the sanctuary of the ark, which v.16 names with the cherubim.

Verse 16

that dwellest between the cherubims — The title is that of the ark: the LORD said he would commune 'from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims' (Ex 25:22), and Ps 99:1 says 'he sitteth between the cherubims'. Against the Assyrian's boast about the gods of the nations (36:19), Hezekiah confesses 'thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth'.

Verse 19

they were no gods — The Assyrians had burned the gods of the nations, which Rabshakeh had held up to Judah (36:18–20). Hezekiah grants the fact and gives the reason: 'the work of men's hands, wood and stone' (ets, eben), the words of Deut 4:28, 'gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear'. Ps 115:4 gives the same line, 'the work of men's hands'.

Verse 20

that all the kingdoms of the earth may know — 'Save' is yasha, and the purpose is that the kingdoms may 'know that thou art the LORD, even thou only'. Elijah prayed with the same aim, 'that this people may know that thou art the LORD God' (1 Kgs 18:37). The request rests on the LORD's name before the nations.

Verse 22

The virgin, the daughter of Zion — Zion is personified as a daughter who 'hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn' (bazah, laag), and who 'hath shaken her head' (nua, as for the earth's reeling in 24:20). The gesture is the one made against Jerusalem in Lam 2:15, 'wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem', now turned on the Assyrian.

Verse 23

against the Holy One of Israel — 'Reproached' (charaph) is the verb of v.4 and 'blasphemed' (gadaph) that of v.6. 'Lifted up thine eyes on high' (rum, nasa) names pride, as in Dan 5:20, 'his heart was lifted up'. 'The Holy One of Israel', Isaiah's characteristic title, stands in 25 verses of the book.

Verse 26

Hast thou not heard long ago — The LORD claims the earlier conquests: 'I have formed it' (yatsar, the verb of 27:11 and 43:1), 'long ago' (rachoq, 'from afar', as in 25:1) and 'ancient times' (qedem). The 'defenced cities' laid waste are the work for which Assyria was 'the rod of mine anger' (Isa 10:5); Assyria carried out what the LORD had formed.

Verse 29

my hook in thy nose — Chach is a ring or hook for the nose and metheg a bridle, the gear for leading an animal or a captive, as in Ezek 38:4, 'put hooks into thy jaws'. 'Rage' (ragaz) and 'tumult' (shaanan, arrogant ease) have 'come up' to the LORD's ears. 'Turn thee back' is shuv, and v.34 repeats it: 'By the way that he came, by the same shall he return'.

Verse 30

such as groweth of itself — The sign is a harvest without sowing: saphiach, the self-sown growth, in the first year, then shachis, what springs from it, in the second, and sowing and reaping only in the third. Saphiach is the word used in Lev 25:5 for 'that which groweth of its own accord'; 2 Kgs 19:29 gives the same sign.

Verse 31

take root downward, and bear fruit upward — Sheresh, root, and peri, fruit; the remnant that 'is escaped' (peleytah) is planted again. v.32 gives the guarantee, 'the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this'. The figure grows from 27:6, 'He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root', and is repeated in 2 Kgs 19:30–31.

Verse 33

He shall not come into this city — Four denials follow one another: not come into it, not shoot an arrow (chets), not come before it with shields (magen), not cast a bank (solelah, a siege mound). The mound is the work described in Jer 32:24, 'the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it'. The Assyrian of 31:8–9 never lays siege to Jerusalem.

Verse 35

I will defend this city to save it — Ganan, to hedge about, is the verb of 31:5, 'so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem', and yasha is to save. The reasons are the LORD's own sake and David's, as in 1 Kgs 11:13, 'for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen'. The same promise is given to Hezekiah in sickness (38:6).

Verse 36

the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote — 'A hundred and fourscore and five thousand' is 185,000, and nakah, smote, is the verb of 27:7. When the survivors 'arose early in the morning', all were peger, dead bodies. It is the 'sword, not of a mighty man' of 31:8; 2 Chr 32:21 adds that the LORD 'cut off all the mighty men of valour'.

Verse 37

Sennacherib king of Assyria departed — Nasa is to pull up tent-pins, the verb of 33:20, 'not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed'. Jerusalem's stakes stay in the ground, and it is the Assyrian who breaks camp. 'Returned' is shuv, the verb of vv.7 and 29, and 'dwelt at Nineveh', which Jonah had visited as 'that great city' (Jonah 1:2).

Verse 38

in the house of Nisroch his god — Shachah is to bow in worship. The sons 'smote him with the sword' (chereb), the end foretold in v.7, 'I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land'. They fled to 'the land of Armenia', literally Ararat, the land of the mountains where the ark came to rest (Gen 8:4), and Esarhaddon his son 'reigned in his stead'.