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Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
37 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.(A) 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.(B) 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.(C) 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”(D)
[[5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.(E) 7 I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”]][a](F)
8 The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king[b] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,(G) 10 “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.(H) 11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?(I) 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?(J) 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of Laar, Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.(K) 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.(L) 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands(M) 19 and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed.(N) 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”(O)
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria,(P) 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
She despises you; she scorns you—
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.(Q)
23 “Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!(R)
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
its densest forest.(S)
25 I dug wells
and drank waters;
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’
26 “Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,(T)
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops
that is scorched before the east wind.[c](U)
28 “I know your rising up[d] and your sitting down,
your going out and coming in
and your raging against me.(V)
29 Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.(W)
30 “And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward,(X) 32 for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.(Y)
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”(Z)
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
36 Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies.(AA) 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. 38 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.(AB)
Hezekiah’s Illness
38 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.”(AC) 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: 3 “Remember now, O Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.(AD)
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.(AE) 6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and defend this city.(AF)
7 “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised:(AG) 8 See, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.[e](AH)
9 A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I said: In the noontide of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.(AI)
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon mortals no more
among the inhabitants of the world.(AJ)
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night you bring me to an end;(AK)
13 I cry for help[f] until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.(AL)
14 Like a swallow or a crane[g] I clamor;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security!(AM)
15 But what can I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
All my sleep has fled[h]
because of the bitterness of my soul.(AN)
16 O Lord, by these things people live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.[i]
Oh, restore me to health and make me live!
17 Surely it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness,
but you have held back[j] my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your back.(AO)
18 For Sheol cannot thank you;
death cannot praise you;
those who go down to the Pit cannot hope
for your faithfulness.(AP)
19 The living, the living, they thank you,
as I do this day;
fathers make known to children
your faithfulness.(AQ)
20 The Lord will save me,
and we will sing to stringed instruments[k]
all the days of our lives,
at the house of the Lord.(AR)
[[21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”(AS) 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”]][l]
Bear One Another’s Burdens
6 My brothers and sisters, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill[a] the law of Christ.(A) 3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.(B) 4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride.(C) 5 For all must carry their own loads.
6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.(D)
7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.(E) 8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh, but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.(F) 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.(G) 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.(H)
Final Admonitions and Benediction
11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.(I) 13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which[b] the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.(J) 15 For[c] neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything!(K) 16 As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From now on, let no one make trouble for me, for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.(L)
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Psalm 65
Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty
To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed,(A)
2 O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.(B)
3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.(C)
4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.(D)
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.(E)
6 By your[a] strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.(F)
7 You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.(G)
8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.(H)
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow;
the hills gird themselves with joy;(I)
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;
the valleys deck themselves with grain;
they shout and sing together for joy.(J)
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.