Isaiah 37:21-35

Contemporary English Version

Isaiah Gives the Lord's Answer to Hezekiah

(2 Kings 19.20-34)

^21-22I went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:

Hezekiah, you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.^[a] Now this is what I say to that king:

The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh behind your back.

²³Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted and sneered at me,
    the holy One of Israel.
²⁴You let your officials
    insult me, the Lord.
And here is what you
    have said about yourself,
“I led my chariots
to the highest heights
    of Lebanon's mountains.
I went deep into its forest,
cutting down the best cedar
    and cypress trees.
²⁵I dried up every stream
    in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
    from wells I had dug.”

²⁶Sennacherib, now listen
    to me, the Lord.
I planned all of this long ago.
And you don't even know
    that I alone am the one
who decided that you
    would do these things.
I let you make ruins
    of fortified cities.
²⁷Their people became weak,
    terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or like tender young grass
    growing on a flat roof
or like a field of grain
    before it matures.^[b]

²⁸I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
    you are with me.
²⁹I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
    you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
    a bit in your mouth,^[c]
then I will send you back
    to where you came from.

³⁰Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year, you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. ³¹Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. ³²I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.

³³I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. ³⁴As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. ³⁵I will protect it for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.

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Footnotes

37.21,22 Hezekiah, you prayed … Assyria: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
37.27 tender young grass … matures: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some Hebrew manuscripts “tender young grass, growing on a flat roof and scorched by the heat.” Many of the houses had roofs made of packed earth. Grass would sometimes grow on the roof, but would die quickly because of the sun and hot winds.
37.29 I will put … your mouth: This is how the Assyrians treated their prisoners, and now the Lord will treat Sennacherib the same way.