Daily Reading

Isaiah 36:1-39:8

36:1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, [that] Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
36:2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to
Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field.

36:3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was
over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son,
the recorder.

36:4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus
saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is
this wherein thou trustest?

36:5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I
have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou
trust, that thou rebellest against me?

36:6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on
Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and
pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in
him.

36:7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is
it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath
taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall
worship before this altar?

36:8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the
king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if
thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

36:9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the
least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for
chariots and for horsemen?

36:10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to
destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and
destroy it.

36:11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh,
Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews'
language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

36:12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master
and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to
the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own
dung, and drink their own piss with you?

36:13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king,
the king of Assyria.

36:14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you.

36:15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying,
The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

36:16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of
Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come
out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of
his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own
cistern;

36:17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own
land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the
gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my
hand?

36:20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that
have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

36:21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word:
for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

36:22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph,
the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told
him the words of Rabshakeh.

37:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
37:2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with
sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is
a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the
children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to
bring forth.

37:4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of
Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to
reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the
LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the
remnant that is left.

37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

37:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your
master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that
thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria
have blasphemed me.

37:7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a
rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to
fall by the sword in his own land.

37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed
from Lachish.

37:9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He
is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he
sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

37:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let
not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria.

37:11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have
done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be
delivered?

37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my
fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and
the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

37:13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and
the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

37:14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of
the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

37:15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

37:16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between
the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all
the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

37:17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O
LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which
hath sent to reproach the living God.

37:18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all
the nations, and their countries,

37:19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no
gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore
they have destroyed them.

37:20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that
all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the
LORD, even thou only.

37:21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying,
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to
me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:

37:22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning
him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee,
and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath
shaken her head at thee.

37:23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom
hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on
high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

37:24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast
said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the
height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will
cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees
thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and
the forest of his Carmel.

37:25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my
feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

37:26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and
of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it
to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities
into ruinous heaps.

37:27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they
were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the
field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the
housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

37:28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming
in, and thy rage against me.

37:29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up
into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and
my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by
which thou camest.

37:30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this
year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which
springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap,
and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

37:31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

37:32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they
that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts
shall do this.

37:33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of
Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow
there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against
it.

37:34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

37:35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake,
and for my servant David's sake.

37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five
thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold,
they were all dead corpses.

37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37:38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote
him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia:
and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

38:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed
unto the LORD,

38:3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have
walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have
done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

38:4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,

38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of
David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy
tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

38:6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of
the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

38:7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that
the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;

38:8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which
is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So
the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone
down.

38:9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been
sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

38:10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the
gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

38:11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the
land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the
inhabitants of the world.

38:12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a
shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will
cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt
thou make an end of me.

38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he
break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an
end of me.

38:14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn
as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am
oppressed; undertake for me.

38:15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself
hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the
bitterness of my soul.

38:16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these
things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and
make me to live.

38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in
love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for
thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not
celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for
thy truth.

38:19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do
this day: the father to the children shall make known thy
truth.

38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my
songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in
the house of the LORD.

38:21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay
it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

38:22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go
up to the house of the LORD?

39:1 At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of
his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices,
and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and
all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his
house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

39:3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said
unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto
thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto
me, even from Babylon.

39:4 Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And
Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen:
there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed
them.

39:5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of
hosts:

39:6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house,
and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this
day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith
the LORD.

39:7 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou
shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in
the palace of the king of Babylon.

39:8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the
LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall
be peace and truth in my days.



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