Isaiah 37:3

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. ²He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz ³to tell him, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives." ⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶who replied, "Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: 'Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his day, Isaiah 25:8, Isaiah 33:2, 2 Kings 19:3, 2 Chronicles 15:4, Psalms 50:15, Psalms 91:15, Psalms 116:3, Psalms 116:4, Jeremiah 30:7, Hosea 5:15, Hosea 6:1, Revelation 3:19

blasphemy: or, provocation, Psalms 95:8

for the: Isaiah 26:17, Isaiah 26:18, Isaiah 66:9, Hosea 13:13

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 20:3 - feared Psalms 44:16 - For the Psalms 120:1 - my distress Isaiah 22:5 - a day Isaiah 25:4 - when Isaiah 28:19 - and it Isaiah 29:2 - I will Isaiah 30:17 - till ye Amos 5:13 - an evil Obadiah 1:14 - in the day Nahum 1:7 - in the Mark 13:8 - sorrows

Cross-References

Genesis 37:13
Israel said to him, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them." "I am ready," Joseph replied.

Genesis 37:14
Then Israel told him, "Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me." So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,

Genesis 37:20
"Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!"

Genesis 37:22
"Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him." Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.

Genesis 37:23
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe-the robe of many colors he was wearing-

Genesis 37:30
returned to his brothers, and said, "The boy is gone! What am I going to do?"

Genesis 37:32
They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe or not."

Judges 5:30
'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil-a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?'

2 Samuel 13:18
So Amnon's attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king's virgin daughters wore.

Ezekiel 16:16
You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they said unto him,.... The messengers to the prophet:

thus saith Hezekiah; this is the message he has sent us with; this is what he would have us lay before thee, and has given us in charge to say unto thee:

this day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy; it was a "day of trouble" to Hezekiah and his people, because it was a "day of rebuke", in which God rebuked them for their sins; or of "reproach and reviling", as the Targum and Septuagint, in which the Assyrians reviled and reproached both God and them; and especially because it was a "day of blasphemy" against God:

for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth; which is to be understood not of the reformation within themselves, happily begun and carried on, but now hindered from being brought to perfection, by the Assyrian army being so near them; nor of their attempt to cast off the Assyrian yoke, which was thought to be just upon finishing, but now despaired of, unless divine assistance be given; nor of their inability to punish the blasphemy that so much affected them; but of the deplorable condition they were now in. Hezekiah compares himself and his people to a woman in travail, that has been some time in it, and the child is fallen down to the place of the breaking forth of children, as the word p used signifies, but unable to make its way, and she having neither strength to bear it, nor to bring it forth, nature being quite exhausted, and strength gone, through the many pains and throes endured: and just so it was even with him and his people, they were in the utmost pain and distress; they could not help themselves, nor could he help them; and therefore must perish, unless they had immediate assistance and relief. Jarchi interprets the children of the children of Israel, the children of God.

p משבר a שבר "fregit, confregit----matrix, vel os matricis, quod partu frangi videtur vel a frangentibus partus doloribus sic dictum", Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 324. עד משבר "usque ad angustias uteri", Vatablus. So Ben Melech interprets it of רחם, "the womb".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is a day of rebuke - This may refer either to the reproaches of Rabsbakeh, or more probably to the fact that Hezekiah regarded the Lord as rebuking his people for their sins. The word which is used here (תוכחח tôkēchâh), means more properly chastisement or punishment Psalms 149:7; Hosea 5:9.

And of blasphemy - Margin, ‘Provocation.’ The word used here (נאצה n^e'âtsâh), means properly reproach or contumely; and the sense is, that God and his cause had been vilified by Rabshakeh, and it was proper to appeal to him to vindicate the honor of his own name Isaiah 37:4.

For the children are come ... - The meaning of this figure is plain. There was the highest danger, and need of aid. It was as in childbirth in which the pains had been protracted, the strength exhausted, and where there was most imminent danger in regard to the mother and the child. So Hezekiah said there was the most imminent danger in the city of Jerusalem. They had made all possible preparations for defense. And now, in the most critical time, they felt their energies exhausted, their strength insufficient for their defense, and they needed the interposition of God.