Study Desk

The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.

And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the road to the fuller's field.

"Behold, you have relied on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

"Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

But they were silent and did not answer him so much as a word; for the king's command was, "Do not answer him."

And they said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

'Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

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

"For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of armies will perform this."'

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: 'He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it.

This is a writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

"Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.

"I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me.

"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

"It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

Now Isaiah had said, "Have them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover."

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