Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

²And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

³to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

⁶who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

⁸When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush:“Look, he has set out to fight against you.”So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction.Will you then be spared?

¹²Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

¹³Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD:“O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁶Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁷Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands.

¹⁸They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

¹⁹And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.

²¹This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:‘The Virgin Daughter of Ziondespises you and mocks you;the Daughter of Jerusalemshakes her head behind you.

²²Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?Against whom have you raised your voiceand lifted your eyes in pride?Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,and you have said:“With my many chariotsI have ascendedto the heights of the mountains,to the remote peaks of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedars,the finest of its cypresses.I have reached its farthest outposts,the densest of its forests.

²⁴I have dug wellsand drunk foreign waters.With the soles of my feetI have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

²⁵Have you not heard?Long ago I ordained it;in days of old I planned it.Now I have brought it to pass,that you should crush fortified citiesinto piles of rubble.

²⁶Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,are dismayed and ashamed.They are like plants in the field,tender green shoots,grass on the rooftops,scorched before it is grown.

²⁷But I know your sitting down,your going out and coming in,and your raging against Me.

²⁸Because your rage and arrogance against Mehave reached My ears,I will put My hook in your noseand My bit in your mouth;I will send you backthe way you came.’

²⁹And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:This year you will eatwhat grows on its own,and in the second yearwhat springs from the same.But in the third year you will sow and reap;you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³⁰And the surviving remnant of the house of Judahwill again take root belowand bear fruit above.

³¹For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,and survivors from Mount Zion.The zeal of the LORD of Hostswill accomplish this.

³²So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:‘He will not enter this cityor shoot an arrow into it.He will not come before it with a shieldor build up a siege ramp against it.

³³He will go back the way he came,and he will not enter this city,declares the LORD.

³⁴I will defend this cityand save itfor My own sakeand for the sake of My servant David.’”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

³⁵And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁷One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezerput him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

²And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

³to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

⁶who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

⁸When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush:“He has set out to fight against you.”On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction.Will you then be spared?

¹²Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

¹³Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:

¹⁶“O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁷Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁸Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.

¹⁹They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

²⁰And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:‘The Virgin Daughter of Ziondespises you and mocks you;the Daughter of Jerusalemshakes her head behind you.

²³Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?Against whom have you raised your voiceand lifted your eyes in pride?Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,and you have said:“With my many chariotsI have ascendedto the heights of the mountains,to the remote peaks of Lebanon.I have cut down its tallest cedars,the finest of its cypresses.I have reached its farthest heights,the densest of its forests.

²⁵I have dug wellsand drunk foreignwaters.With the soles of my feetI have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

²⁶Have you not heard?Long ago I ordained it;in days of old I planned it.Now I have brought it to pass,that you should crush fortified citiesinto piles of rubble.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,are dismayed and ashamed.They are like plants in the field,tender green shoots,grass on the rooftops,scorchedbefore it is grown.

²⁸But I know your sitting down,your going out and coming in,and your raging against Me.

²⁹Because your rage and arrogance against Mehave reached My ears,I will put My hook in your noseand My bit in your mouth;I will send you backthe way you came.’

³⁰And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:This year you will eatwhat grows on its own,and in the second yearwhat springs from the same.But in the third year you will sow and reap;you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³¹And the surviving remnant of the house of Judahwill again take root belowand bear fruit above.

³²For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,and survivors from Mount Zion.The zeal of the LORD of Hostswill accomplish this.

³³So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:‘He will not enter this cityor shoot an arrow into it.He will not come before it with a shieldor build up a siege ramp against it.

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

³⁵‘I will defend this cityand save itfor My own sakeand for the sake of My servant David.’”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

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

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

Egypt Will Fall like Assyria

¹In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:‘Who can be comparedto your greatness?

³Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,with beautiful branches that shaded the forest.It towered on high;its top was among the clouds.

⁴The waters made it grow;the deep springs made it tall,directing their streams all around its baseand sending their channels to all the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore it towered higherthan all the trees of the field.Its branches multiplied,and its boughs grew longas it spread them outbecause of the abundant waters.

⁶All the birds of the airnested in its branches,and all the beasts of the fieldgave birth beneath its boughs;all the great nationslived in its shade.

⁷It was beautiful in its greatness,in the length of its limbs,for its roots extendedto abundant waters.

⁸The cedars in the garden of Godcould not rival it;the cypressescould not compare with its branches,nor the plane treesmatch its boughs.No tree in the garden of Godcould compare with its beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful with its many branches,the envy of all the trees of Eden,which were in the garden of God.’

¹⁰Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became greatin height and set its top among the clouds,and it grew proud on account of its height,

¹¹I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.

¹²Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

¹³All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs.

¹⁴This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’

¹⁵This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

¹⁶I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit.Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

¹⁷They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.

¹⁸Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Hear Us, O Shepherd of Israel

¹Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,who leads Joseph like a flock;You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,shine forth

²before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.Rally Your mighty powerand come to save us.

³Restore us, O God,and cause Your face to shine upon us,that we may be saved.

⁴O LORD God of Hosts,how long will Your anger smolderagainst the prayers of Your people?

⁵You fed them with the bread of tearsand made them drink the full measure of their tears.

⁶You make us contend with our neighbors;our enemies mock us.

⁷Restore us, O God of Hosts,and cause Your face to shine upon us,that we may be saved.

⁸You uprooted a vine from Egypt;You drove out the nations and transplanted it.

⁹You cleared the ground for it,and it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰The mountains were covered by its shade,and the mighty cedars with its branches.

¹¹It sent out its branches to the Sea,and its shoots toward the River.

¹²Why have You broken down its walls,so that all who pass by pick its fruit?

¹³The boar from the forest ravages it,and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

¹⁴Return, O God of Hosts, we pray!Look down from heaven and see!Attend to this vine—

¹⁵the root Your right hand has planted,the son You have raised up for Yourself.

¹⁶Your vine has been cut down and burned;they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

¹⁷Let Your hand be upon the man at Your right hand,on the son of man You have raised up for Yourself.

¹⁸Then we will not turn away from You;revive us, and we will call on Your name.

¹⁹Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts;cause Your face to shine upon us,that we may be saved.