Isaiah 37
1AND when Ezekias heard them he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and went up to the house of the Lord.
2And he sent Eliakim the steward and Somnas the scribe and the elders of the priests clothed with sackcloth to Esaias son of Amos the prophet with this message to him, Thus saith Ezekias,
3This day is a day of trouble and of reproach and of rebuke and of wrath; for pangs are come on a woman in travail and she hath not strength to bring forth.
4That the Lord thy God may attend to the message of Rabsakes which the king of the Assyrians hath sent to reproach the Living God; and refute the words which the Lord thy God hath heard, thou shouldst pray to the Lord for these poor remains.
5So when the servants of king Ezekias came to Esaias
6he said to them: Thus shall you say to your lord, Thus saith the Lord: Be not terrified at the words which thou hast heard; with which the messengers of the king of the Assyrians have reproached Me.
7Behold I am about to put such a spirit in him, that he having heard news will return to his own country: and he shall fall by the sword in his own land.
8So Rabsakes returned and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna, for he heard that he had removed from Lachis;
9and Thoraka king of the Ethiopians came out to give him battle. Upon hearing this, he retreated, and sent messengers to Ezekias, saying;
10Thus shall you say to Ezekias king of Judea, Let not thy God, on whom thou reliest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.
11Hast thou not heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done? How they have destroyed all the land? And shalt thou be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my ancestors destroyed? Either, Goza or Charran or Raphath which are in the country of Theemath?
13Where are the kings of Emath? And where those of Arphath? And where those of the city Eppharuim, of Anagougana?
14When Ezekias received the letter from the messengers and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord; and having spread it before the Lord,
15Ezekias prayed to the Lord, saying:
16O Lord of Hosts the God of Israel, Who art enthroned on the cherubim! Thou alone art the God of every kingdom of the world. Thou hast made the heaven and the earth.
17Incline, O Lord, Thine ear! O Lord, hearken! Open, O Lord, Thine eyes! O Lord, look down and behold the words of Sennacherim which he hath sent to reproach the Living God.
18In truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste this whole inhabited land and the country of those [here mentioned]
19and have cast their idols into the fire; for they were not gods; but works of men’s hands, stocks and stones;
20therefore they destroyed them. But now, O Lord, our God, save us out of their hands that every kingdom of the earth may know, that Thou alone art God.
21Thereupon Esaias son of Amos was sent to Ezekias and said to him, Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer which thou hast made to Me concerning Sennacherim king of the Assyrians.
22This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Sion hath despised thee and mocked thee; at thee the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head.
23Whom hast thou reproached and provoked? Or against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, without lifting up thine eye to the Holy One of Israel,
24that by thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord? For thou hast said, By the multitude of my chariots, I have ascended the height of mountains, and to the utmost limits of Lebanon, and cut down the lofty cedar and beautiful cypress, and entered the stately part of the forest.
25I have laid bridges and dried up waters and every collection of water.
26Hast thou not heard those things of old which I have done? From ancient times I gave command and have now pointed out to lay waste nations in strong places and them who dwell in fortified cities.
27I weakened their hands and they were dried up, and became like dry grass on house tops, and like a blasted ear of corn.
28And now I know thy resting place and thy going out and thy coming in. As the rage with which thou hast been inflamed;
29and thy bitterness are come up to Me; I will therefore put a hook in thy nose and a bridle in thy jaws; and turn thee back by the way in which thou camest.
30Now this shall be a sign to thee. Eat this year what thou hast sown, and in the second year what is left; but in the third year sow ye and reap; plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof; for they who are left shall continue in Judea. They shall strike root downwards and bear fruit upwards.
32For they of Jerusalem shall be left and they of mount Sion shall be saved. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.
33Therefore thus saith the Lord, With regard to the king of the Assyrians, he shall not enter this city; nor shoot an arrow against it; nor present against it a shield; nor enclose it with a rampire.
34But by the way which he came, by the same he shall return; and into this city he shall not come. Thus saith the Lord,
35I will cover this city with My shield to save it for Mine own sake and the sake of My servant David.
36So an angel of the Lord went forth and slew of the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose in the morning they found all these dead bodies.
37Thereupon Sennacherim king of the Assyrians retreated and went and dwelt in Ninive.
38And as he was worshipping, in his house, Nasarach his ancestor; Adramelech and Sarousar his sons smote him with their swords; and, they having made their escape to Armenia, Asardan his son reigned in his stead.