Isaiah 37 · WEB
Hezekiah's Prayer and Sennacherib's Defeat
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It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh's house.
2He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3They said to him, "Hezekiah says, 'Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
4It may be that Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.' "
5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'Yahweh says: "Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." ' "
8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "He has come out to fight against you." When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10"Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, 'Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?' "
14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh's house, and spread it before Yahweh.
15Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,
16"Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God.
18Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,
19and have thrown 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.
20Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only."
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Yahweh, the God of Israel says, 'Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him: " 'The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
23Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, "With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest lodging place, the forest of its fruitful field.
25I have dug and drunk water. With the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt."
26" 'Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and planned it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
27Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its grain is grown.
28" 'But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.
29Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.'
30" 'This shall be the sign to you: you will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.'
33"Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it.
34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,' says Yahweh.
35'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.' "
36The angel of Yahweh went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.
38It happened, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
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Summary
When Hezekiah receives the threatening letter from Sennacherib, he takes it directly to the temple and spreads it before God in prayer, acknowledging Yahweh as the sole God of all the earth and asking for deliverance for his glory's sake. Isaiah responds with a powerful oracle mocking Assyria's pride and declaring that God, not Sennacherib, has been directing history all along. That night the angel of the Lord strikes 185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead, forcing Sennacherib to withdraw to Nineveh, where he is later assassinated by his own sons — fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy exactly.
Themes
- Prayer as the first response to crisis — Hezekiah models bringing the problem directly to God
- The sovereignty of Yahweh over all nations and their gods
- Pride as the root of Assyria's downfall — God humbles the arrogant
- God's faithfulness to his covenant promises (to David and to Jerusalem)
- The distinction between the living God and dead idols made of wood and stone
Key verses
- Isa 37:16 — “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
- Isa 37:20 — “Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”
- Isa 37:35 — “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.”
- Isa 37:36 — “The angel of Yahweh went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians.”
Context & background
Isaiah 37 is almost identical to 2 Kings 19 and records events from around 701 BC, when the Assyrian Empire under Sennacherib invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem (modern Israel). Sennacherib's own annals confirm he besieged Jerusalem, though he never claims to have captured it — an unusual omission consistent with the biblical account of his sudden withdrawal. Nineveh, Sennacherib's capital to which he returned after the defeat, is modern Mosul in northern Iraq; the land of Ararat where his sons fled is the region of modern Armenia/eastern Turkey. The mention of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia (modern Sudan/northeastern Africa) reflects the geopolitical tension of the era, with Egypt and its Cushite dynasty attempting to check Assyrian expansion.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 32:20-21 — Brief parallel noting Hezekiah and Isaiah praying together and the angel's defeat of the Assyrian army
- 2 Kings 19:1-37 — The near-identical parallel account of these same events
- Isaiah 10:5-19 — God's earlier oracle declaring Assyria to be his instrument of judgment, yet warning of Assyria's coming punishment for its arrogance
- Psalm 33:16-19 — "A king is not saved by the multitude of an army… Behold, Yahweh's eye is on those who fear him"
- Psalm 46:1-11 — A psalm likely connected to this crisis: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"