Isaiah 36-39

Isaiah 36

¹And it cometh to pass, in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, come up hath Sennacherib king of Asshur against all the fenced cities of Judah, and seizeth them.

²And the king of Asshur sendeth Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, unto the king Hezekiah, with a heavy force, and he standeth by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field,

³and go forth unto him doth Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who is over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer.

⁴And Rabshakeh saith unto them, ‘Say ye, I pray you, unto Hezekiah, ‘Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur, What is this confidence in which thou hast confided?

⁵I have said: Only, a word of the lips! counsel and might are for battle: now, on whom hast thou trusted, that thou hast rebelled against me?

⁶‘Lo, thou hast trusted on the staff of this broken reed -- on Egypt -- which a man leaneth on, and it hath gone into his hand, and pierced it -- so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

⁷‘And dost thou say unto me, Unto Jehovah our God we have trusted? is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath turned aside, and saith to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar ye do bow yourselves?

⁸‘And now, negotiate, I pray thee, with my lord the king of Asshur, and I give to thee two thousand horses, if thou art able to put for thee riders on them.

⁹And how dost thou turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, and dost trust for thee on Egypt, for chariot and for horsemen?

¹⁰And now, without Jehovah have I come up against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up unto this land, and thou hast destroyed it.'

¹¹And Eliakim saith -- and Shebna and Joah -- unto Rabshakeh, ‘Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants in Aramaean, for we are understanding; and do not speak unto us in Jewish, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.'

¹²And Rabshakeh saith, ‘Unto thy lord, and unto thee, hath my lord sent me to speak these words? is it not for the men -- those sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water with you?'

¹³And Rabshakeh standeth and calleth with a great voice in Jewish, and saith, ‘Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Asshur:

¹⁴Thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you;

¹⁵and let not Hezekiah make you trust unto Jehovah, saying, Jehovah doth certainly deliver us, this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

¹⁶‘Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make ye with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,

¹⁷till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;

¹⁸lest Hezekiah doth persuade you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. ‘Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?

¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where the gods of Sepharvaim, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?

²⁰Who among all the gods of these lands are they who have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'

²¹And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, ‘Do not answer him.'

²²And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who is over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37

¹And it cometh to pass, at the king Hezekiah's hearing, that he rendeth his garments, and covereth himself with sackcloth, and entereth the house of Jehovah,

²and sendeth Eliakim, who is over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, unto Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet,

³and they say unto him, ‘Thus said Hezekiah, A day of distress, and rebuke, and despising, is this day; for come have sons unto the birth, and power there is not to bear.

⁴‘It may be Jehovah thy God doth hear the words of Rabshakeh with which the king of Asshur his lord hath sent him to reproach the living God, and hath decided concerning the words that Jehovah thy God hath heard, and thou hast lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found.'

⁵And the servants of king Hezekiah come in unto Isaiah,

⁶and Isaiah saith unto them, ‘Thus do ye say unto your lord, Thus said Jehovah, Be not afraid because of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.

⁷Lo, I am giving in him a spirit, and he hath heard a report, and hath turned back unto his land, and I have caused him to fall by the sword in his land.'

⁸And Rabshakeh turneth back and findeth the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he hath heard that he hath journeyed from Lachish.

⁹And he heareth concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, ‘He hath come out to fight with thee;' and he heareth, and sendeth messengers unto Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰‘Thus do ye speak unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God lift thee up in whom thou art trusting, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

¹¹Lo, thou hast heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands -- to devote them -- and thou art delivered!

¹²Did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed -- Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who are in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'

¹⁴And Hezekiah taketh the letters out of the hand of the messengers, and readeth them, and Hezekiah goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spreadeth it before Jehovah.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayeth unto Jehovah, saying,

¹⁶‘Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubs, Thou art God Himself -- Thyself alone -- to all kingdoms of the earth, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁷Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, and hear; open, O Jehovah, Thine eyes and see; and hear Thou all the words of Sennacherib that he hath sent to reproach the living God.

¹⁸‘Truly, O Jehovah, kings of Asshur have laid waste all the lands and their land,

¹⁹so as to put their gods into fire -- for they are no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone -- and they destroy them.

²⁰And now, Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, and all kingdoms of the earth do know that Thou art Jehovah, Thyself alone.'

²¹And Isaiah son of Amoz sendeth unto Hezekiah, saying, ‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed unto me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur --

²²this is the word that Jehovah spake concerning him: Trampled on thee, laughed at thee, Hath the virgin daughter of Zion, Behind thee shaken the head hath the daughter of Jerusalem.

²³Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up the voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes Against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By the hand of thy servants Thou hast reviled the Lord, and sayest: In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of hills, The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the high place of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.

²⁵I -- I have dug and drunk waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.

²⁶Hast thou not heard from afar? -- it I did, From days of old -- that I formed it. Now, I have brought it in, And it is to make desolate, Ruinous heaps -- fenced cities,

²⁷And their inhabitants are feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up. They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn, before it hath risen up.

²⁸And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thy anger towards Me.

²⁹Because of thy anger towards Me, And thy noise -- it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And I have caused thee to turn back In the way in which thou camest.

³⁰-- And this to thee is the sign, Food of the year is self-sown grain, And in the second year the spontaneous growth, And in the third year, sow ye and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³¹And it hath continued -- the escaped Of the house of Judah that hath been left -- To take root beneath, And it hath made fruit upward.

³²For from Jerusalem goeth forth a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion, The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts doth this.

³³Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield, Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.

³⁴In the way that he came, in it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, An affirmation of Jehovah,

³⁵And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'

³⁶And a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred and eighty and five thousand; and men rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them are dead corpses.

³⁷And journey, and go, and turn back doth Sennacherib king of Asshur, and dwelleth in Nineveh.

³⁸And it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.

Isaiah 38

¹In those days hath Hezekiah been sick unto death, and come in unto him doth Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, and saith unto him, ‘Thus said Jehovah: Give a charge to thy house, for thou art dying, and dost not live.'

²And Hezekiah turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah,

³and saith, ‘I pray thee, O Jehovah, remember, I pray Thee, how I have walked habitually before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that which is good in thine eyes I have done;' and Hezekiah weepeth -- a great weeping.

⁴And a word of Jehovah is unto Isaiah, saying,

⁵Go, and thou hast said to Hezekiah, Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, ‘I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I am adding to thy days fifteen years,

⁶and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over this city.

⁷And this is to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth this thing that He hath spoken.

⁸Lo, I am bringing back the shadow of the degrees that it hath gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, by the sun, backward ten degrees:' and the sun turneth back ten degrees in the degrees that it had gone down.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick, when he reviveth from his sickness:

¹⁰‘I -- I said in the cutting off of my days, I go in to the gates of Sheol, I have numbered the remnant of mine years.

¹¹I said, I do not see Jah -- Jah! In the land of the living, I do not behold man any more, With the inhabitants of the world.

¹²My sojourning hath departed, And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, By weakness it cutteth me off, From day unto night Thou dost end me.

¹³I have set Him till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me.

¹⁴As a crane -- a swallow -- so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression is on me, be my surety.

¹⁵-- What do I say? seeing He said to me, And He Himself hath wrought, I go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, by these do men live, And by all in them is the life of my spirit, And Thou savest me, make me also to live,

¹⁷Lo, to peace He changed for me bitterness, And Thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption, For Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins.

¹⁸For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, he doth confess Thee.

²⁰Like myself to-day -- a father to sons Doth make known of Thy faithfulness, O Jehovah -- to save me: And my songs we sing all days of our lives In the house of Jehovah.'

²¹And Isaiah saith, ‘Let them take a bunch of figs, and plaster over the ulcer, and he liveth.'

²²And Hezekiah saith, ‘What is the sign that I go up to the house of Jehovah!'

Isaiah 39

¹At that time hath Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah, when he heareth that he hath been sick, and is become strong.

²And Hezekiah rejoiceth over them, and sheweth them the house of his spices, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that hath been found in his treasures; there hath not been a thing in his house, and in all his dominion, that Hezekiah hath not shewed them.

³And Isaiah the prophet cometh in unto king Hezekiah, and saith unto him, ‘What said these men? and whence come they unto thee?' And Hezekiah saith, ‘From a land afar off they have come unto me -- from Babylon.'

⁴And he saith, ‘What saw they in thy house?' and Hezekiah saith, ‘All that is in my house they saw; there hath not been a thing that I have not shewed them among my treasures.'

⁵And Isaiah saith unto Hezekiah, ‘Hear a word of Jehovah of Hosts:

⁶Lo, days are coming, and borne hath been all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have treasured up till this day, to Babylon; there is not left a thing, said Jehovah;

⁷and of thy sons who come forth from thee, whom thou begettest, they take, and they have been eunuchs in a palace of the king of Babylon.'

⁸And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, ‘Good is the word of Jehovah that thou hast spoken;' and he saith, ‘Because there is peace and truth in my days.'