and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of
Rabshakeh.
Isa.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.
[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 blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
[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.
[5] So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
[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.
[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.
[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 forth to make war with 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,
as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
[13] Where is the
king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
[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.
[15] And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD,
saying,
[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.
[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.
[18] Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the
nations, and their countries,
[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 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.
[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:
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[28] But I know
thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
[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.
[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.
[31] And the
remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
[32]