Study Desk

Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted out in Hebrew: Listen to what the great king of Assyria says!

for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards and raise your own grain.

Isaiah, these are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born.

Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

I told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah: I am the Lord . Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria.

About this same time, the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see.

I have seen your pride and the tremendous hatred you have for me. Now I will put a hook in your nose, a bit in your mouth, then I will send you back to where you came from.

I will protect it for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.

with this message for Hezekiah: I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live fifteen years more,

Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps. Then the shadow went back ten steps.

It was for my own good that I had such hard times. But your love protected me from doom in the deep pit, and you turned your eyes away from my sins.

No one in the world of the dead can thank you or praise you; none of those in the deep pit can hope for you to show them how faithful you are.

Then Hezekiah asked for proof that he would again worship in the Lord 's temple.

Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah was well, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him.

Then I told Hezekiah: I have a message for you from the Lord All-Powerful.

Hezekiah thought, "At least our nation will be at peace for a while." So he told me, "The message you brought from the Lord is good."

Speak kindly to Jerusalem and announce: Your slavery is past; your punishment is over. I, the Lord , made you pay double for your sins."

Someone is shouting: "Clear a path in the desert! Make a straight road for the Lord our God.

Then the glory of the Lord will appear for all to see. The Lord has promised this!"