Chapter 37 – Chapter 39

Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

1 Now, it came to pass, that Hezekiah, when he heard this rent his clothes, And covered himself with sackcloth, And went into the house of Jehovah.

2 At the same time he sent Eliakim, who was over the palace, And Shebna the chancellor, and the eldest of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet.

3 Who said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, And of blasphemy; for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4 If, perhaps, Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, hath sent to curse the living God, And to rebuke with words which Jehovah thy God hath heard. Thou shalt therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is still left.

5 The servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master: Thus saith Jehovah, Fear not the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reproached me.

7 Behold, I will bring a wind upon him; for he shall hear a report, And shall return to his own land; And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 And Rabshakeh, having returned, found the king of Assyria besieging Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9 And hearing concerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, He hath gone out to fight against thee; after having heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:

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

11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to at hands, how they have destroyed them; And shalt thou be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers destroyed, Gozan, And Itaran, And Rezeph, And the children of Edom, who were in Telassar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arphad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena And Iva?

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, And read it, And went up to the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah.

15 Then Hezekiah prayed to God, saying:

16 O Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubim, thou alone art God over all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven And earth.

17 Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, And hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, And see; And hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.

18 Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations, And their land,

19 And have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood, And stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

20 And now, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand; that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone art Jehovah.

21 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Since thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria;

22 This is the word which Jehovah hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, hath laughed at thee; The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached?

23 And whom hast thou blasphemed? Against whom hast thou exalted thy Voice, And lifted up thy hands on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.

24 By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, And hast said, By the multitude of my chariots I will go up, To the heights of the mountains, To the sides of Lebanon; I will cut down the tallest of her cedars, Her choice firs; Then will I come to the height of his border, And even to his level forest.

Note 250. Or, To the forest of his plain.

25 I will dig, And will drink waters; With the sole of my feet I will dry up all the lakes of the siege.

26 Hast thou not heard that I made it long ago, That I formed it from ancient days? And should I now bring it to be a desolation, To be heaps of ruins, like fortified cities?

27 For their inhabitants were maimed, Were terrified And confounded; They were made like the grass of the field And the green herb, Like the grass of the house-tops, which withereth before it is ripe.

28 I know thy sitting down, And thy going out, And thy entrance, And thy indignation against me.

29 Because thou wast angry against me, Thy tumult hath come up into my ears. Therefore will I put my hook in thy nostril, And my bridle ill thy lips, And will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

Note 251. Or, My ring.

30 And this shall be a sign to thee; Thou shalt eat this year that which groweth of itself, And in the second year that which springeth up of itself; And in the third year ye shall sow And reap, And shall plant vineyards, And eat the fruit of them.

31 And that which shall be preserved of the house of Judah, And that which shall be left, Shall vet strike root downward, And shall bear fruit upward.

32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And that which shall be preserved of Mount Zion. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will do this.

33 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not enter into this city, Nor throw an arrow into it; And he who is defended by a shield shall not seize it, Nor cast a balister against it.

34 By the way that he came shall he return, And shall not enter into this city, saith Jehovah.

35 And I will be a protector to this city, To save it, for my own sake, And for the sake of my servant David.

36 And the angel of Jehovah went forth, And smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred And eighty-five thousand; And when the people arose early in the morning, behold, they were all corpses of dead men.

37 Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, And went, And returned, And dwelt in Nineveh.

38 And it came to pass, while he was worshipping his god in the temple of Nisroch, that his sons, Adrammeleeh And Sharezar, smote him with the sword, And fled into the land of Armenia; And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Note 252. Or, While he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch, his god.

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, And said to him: Thus saith Jehovah, Give charge concerning thy house; for thou shalt die, And shalt not live.

Note 253. Or, Give charge to thy house.

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, And prayed to Jehovah.

3 And he said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, remember now that I have walked before thee in truth, And with a perfect heart, And have done what was right in thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with sore weeping.

Note 254. “Et Ezechias pleura amerement.” “And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”

4 Then was communicated the word of Jehovah to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, And say to Hezekiah: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Jacob thy father: I have heard thy prayer, And have seen thy tears: Behold, I add to thy days fifteen years.

6 And I will deliver thee And this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; And I will be a protector to this city.

7 And this shall be a sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing, of which he hath spoken:

8 Behold, I bring back the shadow of degrees, by which it hath gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees. And he sun went back on the sundial ten degrees, by which it had already gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick, And had recovered from his sickness.

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.

11 I said, I shall not see God, God in the land of the living; I shall no longer behold man with the inhabitants of the world.

12 Sly habitation is departed, And is removed from me as a shepherds tent; I have cut off; as a weaver, my life: From lifting up he will cut me off; From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Note 255. Or, Through leanness; or, Through sickness; or, By taking away.

13 I reckoned till the dawn; As a lion, so he hath broken my bones; From the dawn till night thou wilt make an end of me.

Note 256. Or, I determined; or, I laid down.

14 As a crane or a swallow, I chattered; I mourned as a dove. My eyes were lifted up on high, O Lord, it hath oppressed me; comfort me.

15 What shall I say? He who hath spoken to me hath done it. I shall be moved all the days of my life In the bitterness of my soul.

Note 257. Or, I shall walk trembling.

16 O Lord, by all who shall live beyond those (years) Shall the life of my spirit (be known;) And that thou didst cause me to sleep, And didst make me alive.

17 Behold, in peace my bitterness was bitter; And thou hast been pleased (to rescue) my soul from the pit; For thou hast east behind thy back all my sins.

Note 258. Or, Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of destruction.

18 For hell shall not confess thee; Death shall not praise thee; They that go down into the pit shall not wait for thy truth.

19 The living, the living, he shall confess to thee, As I (do) this day; The father to the sons shall make known thy truth.

20 Jehovah to save me; And we will sing our songs All the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.

21 Now, Isaiah had said, They shall take a mass of figs, and apply it to the boil, And they shall live.

22 For Hezekiah had said, What is the sign that I shall go up into the house of the Lord?

Note 259. Or, Now.

Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

1 At that time Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters And a present to Hezekiah, after having heard that he had been sick, And was recovered.

2 And Hezekiah was glad on account of them, And showed to them the house of his treasure, silver, And gold, And spices, precious ointment, And all his armory, And all that was contained in his treasures; there was not anything in his house, And in all his kingdom, which Hezekiah did not show.

3 Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Pezekiah, And said to him, What did those men say. And whence came they to thee. Hezekiah answered, They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.

4 Then he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, They have seen all that is in my house; And there is nothing in my treasures which I have not showed to them.

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

6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, And all that thy fathers have treasured up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; And nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah.

7 Of thy sons which shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take; And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said, At least there shall be peace And permanency in my days.