Study Desk

It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his leader the king of Assyria has sent to try to bring shame upon the living God. The Lord your God may speak sharp words against what He has heard. So say a prayer for those who are left of His people.'"

So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

See, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear some news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands. They have destroyed them all. So will you be kept from trouble?

They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, made of wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

So their people did not have any more strength. They were troubled and put to shame. They were like the grass of the field and like the green plant. They were like grass on the housetops, dried up before it is grown.

So the Lord says about the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with a battle-covering, or build a battle-wall against it.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.

See the shadow on the steps, which has gone down with the sun on the steps of Ahaz. I will make it go back ten steps." So the sun's shadow went back the ten steps it had gone down.

The able workman gives strength of heart to the one who works with gold. He who makes iron smooth gives strength of heart to the one who beats the iron, saying of his work, "It is good." And he puts it in its place with nails so that it cannot be moved.

Who is blind but My servant? Who does not hear, as the one whom I send with news? Who is so blind as he who is at peace with Me, or so blind as the servant of the Lord?

So He poured out upon Israel the heat of His anger and the power of battle. It set him on fire all around. Yet he did not understand. It burned him, but he did not think about it.

All the nations have gathered together so the people may be together. Who among them can make this known, and tell us what has happened before? Let them bring people who can show us that they are right. Let them hear and say, "It is true."

"You can speak for Me," says the Lord. "You are My servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. No God was made before Me, and there will be none after Me.

So I will make unclean the leaders of the holy place. I will give Jacob over to be destroyed, and Israel to sharp words of shame.

All who make objects to worship are for nothing. The things they think are worth much are worth nothing. Those who speak for them do not see or know, so they will be put to shame.

One works with wood, he marks it, and draws on it with a red marker. He makes it smooth and makes it like a man, like the beauty of a man, so that it may sit in a house.

Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself. He makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it. He makes an object of worship and bows down in front of it.

They do not know, and they do not understand. For the Lord has covered their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot understand.

This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, whom He has chosen, whose right hand He has held, "I send him to put nations under his power, and to take away the power of kings. And I will open doors in front of him so that gates will not be shut.