Study Desk

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.'

But the chief adviser said, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!"

Don't listen to Hezekiah!' For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, "The Lord will rescue us." Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord 's temple.

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.'"

Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land."'"

Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord ."

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, nor will he build siege works against it.

So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.

One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord ,

This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:

The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks, as I do today. A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Hezekiah said, "What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord 's temple?" Isaiah replied, "This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz." And then the shadow went back ten steps. This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness: "I thought, ‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.' "I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me like a shepherd's tent. I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; from the loom he cuts me off. You turn day into night and end my life. I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life. Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me! What can I say? He has decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. Restore my health and preserve my life.' "Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. You delivered me from the Pit of oblivion. For you removed all my sins from your sight. Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you. Those who descend into the Pit do not anticipate your faithfulness. The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks, as I do today. A father tells his sons about your faithfulness. The Lord is about to deliver me, and we will celebrate with music for the rest of our lives in the Lord 's temple."

Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them his storehouse with its silver, gold, spices, and high-quality olive oil, as well as his whole armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.

Look, the sovereign Lord comes as a victorious warrior; his military power establishes his rule. Look, his reward is with him; his prize goes before him.

Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; he leads the ewes along.

Who has measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand, or carefully measured the sky, or carefully weighed the soil of the earth, or weighed the mountains in a balance, or the hills on scales?