微读圣经

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, 1Kg 21:27; 2Kg 18:37; Ps 69:11 and went into the Lord’s temple. 2Ch 32:20; Is 37:1

2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, 2Kg 18:26,37 and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, 2Sm 3:31 to the prophet Isaiah Is 1:1; 2:1 son of Amoz.

3They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, Hs 13:13 but there is no strength to deliver them.

4Perhaps Yahweh your God 1Sm 17:26; 2Kg 18:35 will hear Jos 14:12; 2Sm 16:12 all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke Ps 50:21 him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ” 2Kg 19:30; Is 1:9

5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

6who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid Is 37:6 because of the words you have heard, that the king of Assyria’s attendants 2Kg 18:17 have blasphemed 2Kg 18:22-25,30,35 Me with.

7I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land 2Kg 7:6 where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ” 2Kg 19:35-37

Sennacherib’s Departing Threat

8When Is 37:8-13 the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, 2Kg 18:14 he returned and found him fighting against Libnah. Jos 10:29

9The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, 2Kg 18:5 deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. 2Kg 18:29-30

11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?

12Did the gods of the nations 2Kg 18:33,35 that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — nations such as Gozan, 2Kg 17:6 Haran, Gn 11:31 Rezeph, and the Edenites Is 37:12 in Telassar?

13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah? ’ ” 2Kg 18:34

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14Hezekiah took Is 37:14-20 the letter 2Kg 5:7 from the hand of the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord. Is 37:14

15Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:

Lord God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim, Ex 35:22 You are God — You alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Gn 1:1; 2Kg 5:15; Is 44:6

16Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Dn 9:18 Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. 2Kg 19:4; Ps 31:2; Is 37:17

17Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. 2Kg 18:34

18They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands — wood and stone. Is 44:9-20; Jr 10:3-5; Ac 17:29 So they have destroyed them.

19Now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God — You alone. 1Kg 8:42-43; Is 43:10-11

God’s Answer through Isaiah

20Then Is 37:21-35 Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer 2Kg 20:5 to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.’ Is 37:21

21This is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

Virgin Daughter Zion Jr 14:17; Lm 2:13

despises you and scorns you:

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head behind your back. Lit behind you Ps 22:7-8; 109:25; Mt 27:39

22Who is it you mocked and blasphemed? 2Kg 19:4,6

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel! Is 5:24; 30:11-15; Jr 51:5

23You have mocked the Lord Many mss read Lord through Lit by the hand of your messengers. 2Kg 18:17; 19:4

You have said:

With my many chariots Ps 20:7; Jr 50:37

I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon.

I cut down its tallest cedars,

its choice cypress trees.

I came to its farthest outpost,

its densest forest.

24I dug wells,

and I drank foreign waters.

I dried up all the streams of Egypt Is 19:6

with the soles of my feet.

25Have you not heard? Is 40:21; 45:7

I designed it long ago;

I planned it in days gone by.

I have now brought it to pass, Is 10:5

and you have crushed fortified cities

into piles of rubble.

26Their inhabitants have become powerless,

dismayed, and ashamed.

They are plants of the field,

tender grass,

grass on the rooftops, Ps 129:6

blasted by the east wind. DSS; MT reads blasted before standing grain ; Is 37:27

27But I know your sitting down, LXX, DSS read your rising up and your sitting down ; Is 37:28 Ps 139:1-2

your going out and your coming in,

and your raging against Me.

28Because your raging against Me

and your arrogance have reached My ears,

I will put My hook in your nose Ezk 19:9; 29:4; 38:4

and My bit in your mouth;

I will make you go back

the way you came.

29“This will be the sign Ex 3:14; 2Kg 20:8-9; Is 7:14 for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30The surviving remnant 2Kg 19:4; 2Ch 32:22-23 of the house of Israel will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

31For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. Is 10:20 The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. Is 9:7

32Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow there

or come before it with a shield

or build up an assault ramp against it. Is 8:7-10

33He will go back

on the road that he came

and he will not enter this city.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

34I will defend this city and rescue it

for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.” 1Kg 11:12-13; 2Kg 20:6; Is 31:5

Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

35That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies! 2Ch 32:21; Is 37:36

36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh. Jnh 1:2

37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech 2Kg 17:31 and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Gn 8:4; Jr 51:27 Then his son Esar-haddon Gn 10:11; Ezr 4:2 became king in his place.