Study Desk

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,

They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, "Don't respond to him."

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.'"

They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.

"For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies will accomplish this.

I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant."'"

In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, "This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.'"

"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.

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 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."

At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The Lord 's word which you have announced is appropriate." Then he thought, "For there will be peace and stability during my lifetime."

"Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and tell her that her time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed. For the Lord has made her pay double for all her sins."

A voice cries out, "In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord ; construct in the desert a road for our God.

The splendor of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it at the same time. For the Lord has decreed it."

Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings.

A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.

But those who wait for the Lord 's help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles' wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired.

"Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate!

Who stirs up this one from the east? Who officially commissions him for service? He hands nations over to him, and enables him to subdue kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like windblown straw with his bow.