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Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold
37:1 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 the LORD.
37:2 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.
37:3 And 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.
37:4 It 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.
37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
37:6 And 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.
37:7 Behold, 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.
37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was
departed from Lachish.
37:9 And 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,
37:10 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.
37:11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt
thou be delivered?
37:12 Have 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?
37:13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad,
and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
Hezekiah’s Prayer
37:14 And 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.
37:15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
37:16 O 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.
37:17 Incline 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.
37:18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid
waste all the nations, and their countries,
37:19 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.
37:20 Now 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.
Sennacherib’s Fall
37:21 Then 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:
37:22 This 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.
37:23 Whom 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.
37:24 By 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.
37:25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of
my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged
places.
37:26 Hast 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.
37:27 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 corn blasted before it be grown up.
37:28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy
coming in, and thy rage against me.
37:29 Because 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.
37:30 And 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.
37:31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
37:32 For 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.
37:33 Therefore 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.
37:34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
37:35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own
sake, and for my servant David's sake.
37:36 Then 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.
37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37:38 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 Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his
stead. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
