Isaiah 37:17

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

Hebrew Names Version
Turn your ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and behold; and hear all the words of Sancheriv, who has sent to defy the living God.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
Incline your ear, O Lord , and hear; open your eyes, O Lord , and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

New American Standard Bible
"Incline Your ear, LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to taunt the living God.

New Century Version
Hear, Lord , and listen. Open your eyes, Lord , and see. Listen to all the words Sennacherib has said to insult the living God.

Amplified Bible
"Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt and defy the living God.

World English Bible
Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Encline thine eare, O Lord, and heare: open thine eyes, O Lorde, and see, and heare all the wordes of Saneherib, who hath sent to blaspheme the liuing God.

Legacy Standard Bible
Incline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God.

Berean Standard Bible
Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

Contemporary English Version
Just look and see how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

Complete Jewish Bible
Turn your ear, Adonai , and hear! Open your eyes, Adonai , and see! Hear all the words that Sancheriv sent to taunt the living God.

Darby Translation
Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open, Jehovah, thine eyes, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.

Easy-to-Read Version
Lord , please pay attention and hear this. Open your eyes, Lord , and see what is happening. Listen to all the insults against the living God in the message Sennacherib sent!

George Lamsa Translation
Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God.

Good News Translation
Now, Lord , hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God.

Lexham English Bible
Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God!

Literal Translation
Bow down Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear. Open Your eye, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent, to reproach the living God.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Encline thine eare LORDE & cosidre, open thine eyes (o LORDE,) & se, and pondre all the wordes of Senacherib, which hath sent his embassage to blaspheme the, the lyuynge God.

American Standard Version
Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to defy the living God.

Bible in Basic English
Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord; let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see: take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Incline Thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open Thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to taunt the living God.

King James Version (1611)
Encline thine eare, O Lord, and heare, Open thine eyes, O Lord, and see, and heare all the wordes of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproch the liuing God.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Encline thine eare Lorde and consider, open thine eyes Lorde and see, and ponder all the wordes of Sennacherib, which hath sent his embassage to blaspheme the lyuyng God.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Incline thine ear, O Lord, hearken, O Lord; open thine eyes, O Lord, look, O Lord: and behold the words of Sennacherim, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

English Revised Version
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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lord, bowe doun thin eere, and here; Lord, open thin iyen, and se; and here thou alle the wordis of Sennacherib, whiche he sente for to blasfeme lyuynge God.

Update Bible Version
Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

Webster's Bible Translation
Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.

New English Translation
Pay attention, Lord , and hear! Open your eyes, Lord , and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God!

New King James Version
Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

New Living Translation
Bend down, O Lord , and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord , and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God.

New Life Bible
Listen, O Lord, and hear. Open Your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to speak against the living God.

New Revised Standard
Incline your ear, O Lord , and hear; open your eyes, O Lord , and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Bow down, O Yahweh, thine ear - and hear, Open, O Yahweh, thine eyes - and see, - Yea hear thou all the words of Sennacherib,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.

Revised Standard Version
Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennach'erib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Young's Literal Translation
Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, and hear; open, O Jehovah, Thine eyes and see; and hear Thou all the words of Sennacherib that he hath sent to reproach the living God.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God.

Contextual Overview

⁸ The Rabshekah left and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. (He had gotten word that the king had left Lachish.) ⁹Just then the Assyrian king received an intelligence report on King Tirhakah of Ethiopia: "He is on his way to make war on you." On hearing that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with instructions to deliver this message: "Don't let your God , on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won't fall to the king of Assyria. Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world—one country after another devastated! And do you think you're going to get off? Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar? Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?" ¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God . ¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to God : " God -of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. Listen, O God , and hear. Look, O God , and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God. It's quite true, O God , that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. They've thrown their gods into the trash and burned them—no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods! But now step in, O God , our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are God ."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Incline: 2 Chronicles 6:40, Job 36:7, Psalms 17:6, Psalms 71:2, Psalms 130:1, Psalms 130:2, Daniel 9:17-19, 1 Peter 3:12

hear: Isaiah 37:4, 2 Samuel 16:12, Psalms 10:14, Psalms 10:15, Psalms 74:10, Psalms 74:22, Psalms 79:12, Psalms 89:50, Psalms 89:51

Reciprocal: Exodus 15:7 - them that 1 Kings 18:37 - Hear me 2 Kings 19:16 - bow down Psalms 44:16 - For the Psalms 86:1 - Bow Isaiah 36:18 - Hath Jeremiah 10:10 - the living Lamentations 1:9 - for Daniel 9:18 - incline Zechariah 12:4 - I will open Acts 4:29 - behold 1 Thessalonians 1:9 - the living

Cross-References

2 Kings 6:13
The king said, "Go and find out where he is. I'll send someone and capture him." The report came back, "He's in Dothan."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear,.... The prayer which Hezekiah was now presenting to him, as also the reproach of the enemy:

open thine eyes, O Lord, and see; the letter he spread before him, and take notice of the blasphemies in it; and punish for them. Both these clauses are to be understood after the manner of men, and in a way becoming the being and perfections of God, to whom ears and eyes are not properly to be ascribed, and so likewise the bowing of the one, and the opening of the other; but both denote the gracious condescension of God, to take notice of things on earth, and vindicate the cause of his people, which is his own:

and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, understand it of the words which Sennacherib sent in the letter to reproach the Lord; but in 2 Kings 19:16, it is, "which hath sent him"; the messenger, Rabshakeh, or whoever was the person that brought the letter to Hezekiah. The Targum paraphrases the latter part thus,

"to reproach the people of the living God;''

both God and his people were reproached, and both carry in them arguments with the Lord to hear and avenge himself and them; and the king prays that he would "hear", take notice of and observe all the words and give a proper answer, by inflicting just punishment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Incline thine ear - This is evidently language taken from what occurs among people. When they are desirous of hearing distinctly, they incline the ear or apply it close to the speaker. Similar language is not unfrequently used in the Scriptures as applicable to God 2 Kings 19:16; Psalms 86:1; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 88:2; Daniel 9:18.

Open thine eyes - This is similar language applied to God, derived from the fact that when we wish to see an object, the eyes are fixed upon it (compare Job 14:3; Job 27:19).

And hear all the words - That is, attend to their words, and inflict suitable punishment. This was the burden of the prayer of Hezekiah, that God would vindicate his own honor, and save his name from reproach.

Which he hath sent - In the letters which he had sent to Hezekiah, as well as the words which he had sent to the people by Rabshakeh Isaiah 36:18-20.

To reproach the living God - (See the note at Isaiah 37:4).