Study Desk

And ^(a)when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord .

Then he sent ^(b)Eliakim who was over the household with ^(c)Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^(d)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^(e)day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for ^(f)children have come to birth, and there is no strength to ^[a]deliver.

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(g)reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^(h)the remnant that is left.'"

So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord , "⁽ⁱ⁾Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will ^(j)hear a rumor and ^(k)return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(l)Libnah, for he had heard that ^[b]the king had left ^(m)Lachish.

When he ⁽ⁿ⁾heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ^[c](o)Cush, "He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

"Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^[d]Judah, ‘^(p)Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

^(q)Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be ^[e]spared?

Did the gods of ^[f]those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even ^(r)Gozan and ^(s)Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'"

Then Hezekiah took the ^[g]letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and ^[h]spread it out before the Lord .

Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying,

"O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(t)who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^(u)God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^(v)You have made heaven and earth.

^(w)Incline Your ear, O Lord , and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord , and see; and ^(x)listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^(y)reproach the living God.

Truly, O Lord , the ^(z)kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands,

and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the ^(aa)work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have ^(ab)destroyed them.

Now, O Lord our God, ^(ac)deliver us from his hand that ^(ad)all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord , ^[i]are God."

Then ^(ae)Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: "She has despised you and mocked you, The ^(af)virgin ^(ag)daughter of Zion; She has ^(ah)shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem!

"Whom have you ^(ai)reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And ^[j]haughtily ^(aj)lifted up your eyes? Against the ^(ak)Holy One of Israel!

"Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of ^(al)Lebanon; And I cut down its tall ^(am)cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its ^[k]highest peak, its thickest ^(an)forest.

‘I dug wells and drank waters, And ^(ao)with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of ^[l]Egypt.'

"^(ap)Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I ^(aq)planned it. Now ^(ar)I have brought it to pass, That ^(as)you should turn fortified cities into ^(at)ruinous heaps.

"Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the ^(au)vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As ^(av)grass on the housetops ^[m]is scorched before it is grown up.

"But I ^(aw)know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me.