Hezekiah Tears His Robe
37 1 Now when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and put on mourning clothes and went into the house of our Father. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with mourning clothes, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 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 point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them." 4 It may be that your Father will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living Father, and will rebuke the words he has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left." a a v4 Rabshakeh is a title — the Assyrian king's chief military officer — not a personal name.
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 Isaiah said to them, "Say this to your master: Thus says our Father: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, so that he hears a rumor and returns to his own land; and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."
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 heard about Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has set out to fight against you." When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10 "Thus shall you say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, 'Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, completely destroying them. And you — will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations deliver them — the nations my fathers destroyed: Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"
Spread out Before the Father
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house of our Father and spread it out before our Father. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to our Father, saying: 16 "O Father of heaven's armies, the Father of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim — you alone are our Father over all the kingdoms of the earth; you made the heavens and the earth. b b v16 Hezekiah prays to our Father as covenant warrior, God of Israel, and enthroned King — the Maker of heaven and earth. 17 Bend down, our Father, and hear; open your eyes, our Father, and see; hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living Father. 18 It is true, our Father, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have thrown their gods into the fire — for they were not gods but the work of human hands, wood and stone; so they destroyed them. 20 So now, O our Father, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are our Father."
The Father Answers
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says our Father, the Father of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that our Father has spoken against him: "She despises you, she scorns you — the virgin daughter of Zion; behind you she shakes her head — the daughter of Jerusalem. 23 Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 By your servants you have mocked the Sovereign Father, and you have said, 'With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far reaches of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I came to its remotest height, its densest forest. 25 I dug wells and drank water; with the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt.' 26 Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; from days of old I planned it. Now I have made it happen, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins. 27 Their inhabitants, stripped of their strength, were dismayed and put to shame; they were like plants of the field, like tender grass, like grass on the rooftops, withered before it can grow. 28 But I know when you sit down, when you go out, and when you come in, and when you rage against me. 29 Because you rage against me, and your arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth, and I will turn you back by the way you came.
30 "And this will be the sign for you: this year you will eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; but in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Father of heaven's armies will accomplish this.
33 Therefore thus says our Father concerning the king of Assyria: He will not come into this city or shoot an arrow there; he will not advance on it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it. 34 He will return the way he came; he will not come into this city, declares our Father. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant."
36 Then the messenger of our Father went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when people rose early in the morning, there were dead bodies everywhere. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and went home, and he stayed at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.