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Text -- Isaiah 37:4-38 (NET)
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Context
37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master , the king of Assyria , who sent him to taunt the living God . When the Lord your God hears , perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains .’”
37:5 When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah ,
37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this : ‘This is what the Lord says : “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me.
37:7 Look , I will take control of his mind ; he will receive a report and return to his own land . I will cut him down with a sword in his own land .”’”
37:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish , he left and went to Libnah , where the king was campaigning.
37:9 The king heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. He again sent messengers to Hezekiah , ordering them:
37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this : ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says , “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria .”
37:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands . Do you really think you will be rescued ?
37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed – the nations of Gozan , Haran , Rezeph , and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods ?
37:13 Where are the king of Hamath , the king of Arpad , and the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim , Hena , and Ivvah ?’”
37:14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord .
37:15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord :
37:16 “O Lord who commands armies , O God of Israel , who is enthroned on the cherubim ! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth . You made the sky and the earth .
37:17 Pay attention , Lord , and hear ! Open your eyes , Lord , and observe ! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God !
37:18 It is true , Lord , that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands .
37:19 They have burned the gods of the nations , for they are not really gods , but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone . That is why the Assyrians could destroy them .
37:20 Now , O Lord our God , rescue us from his power , so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord .”
37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah : “This is what the Lord God of Israel says : ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria ,
37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: “The virgin daughter Zion despises you– she makes fun of you; daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you.
37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted and looked so arrogantly ? At the Holy One of Israel !
37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master , ‘With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains , the slopes of Lebanon . I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens . I invaded its most remote regions , its thickest woods .
37:25 I dug wells and drank water . With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt .’
37:26 Certainly you must have heard ! Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass . The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins .
37:27 Their residents are powerless ; they are terrified and ashamed . They are as short-lived as plants in the field or green vegetation . They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops when it is scorched by the east wind .
37:28 I know where you live and everything you do and how you rage against me.
37:29 Because you rage against me and the uproar you create has reached my ears , I will put my hook in your nose , and my bridle between your lips , and I will lead you back the way you came .”
37:30 “This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own . But the year after that you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce .
37:31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit .
37:32 “For a remnant will leave Jerusalem ; survivors will come out of Mount Zion . The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies will accomplish this .
37:33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria : ‘He will not enter this city , nor will he shoot an arrow here . He will not attack it with his shielded warriors , nor will he build siege works against it.
37:34 He will go back the way he came – he will not enter this city ,’ says the Lord .
37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant .”’”
37:36 The Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 troops in the Assyrian camp . When they got up early the next morning , there were all the corpses !
37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh .
37:38 One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch , his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword . They ran away to the land of Ararat ; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Isa 37:4; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:6; Isa 37:7; Isa 37:7; Isa 37:8; Isa 37:9; Isa 37:9; Isa 37:9; Isa 37:9; Isa 37:11; Isa 37:11; Isa 37:12; Isa 37:12; Isa 37:13; Isa 37:14; Isa 37:14; Isa 37:16; Isa 37:16; Isa 37:17; Isa 37:18; Isa 37:19; Isa 37:19; Isa 37:20; Isa 37:21; Isa 37:22; Isa 37:22; Isa 37:22; Isa 37:23; Isa 37:23; Isa 37:24; Isa 37:24; Isa 37:25; Isa 37:26; Isa 37:26; Isa 37:26; Isa 37:26; Isa 37:27; Isa 37:27; Isa 37:27; Isa 37:27; Isa 37:28; Isa 37:29; Isa 37:29; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:30; Isa 37:31; Isa 37:32; Isa 37:33; Isa 37:33; Isa 37:35; Isa 37:36; Isa 37:36; Isa 37:36; Isa 37:36; Isa 37:37; Isa 37:38; Isa 37:38; Isa 37:38; Isa 37:38
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NET Notes: Isa 37:8 Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish....
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NET Notes: Isa 37:9 The Hebrew text has, “and he heard and he sent,” but the parallel in 2 Kgs 19:9 has וַיָּשׁ...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:11 Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”
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NET Notes: Isa 37:12 Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telas...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:13 Lair was a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.
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NET Notes: Isa 37:14 In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preced...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:16 Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavensR...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:18 The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”
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NET Notes: Isa 37:21 The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:25 The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָ...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:26 Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְ...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:27 The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable ...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:28 Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably ditt...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:29 The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.
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NET Notes: Isa 37:30 The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 30b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certaint...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:31 Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”
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NET Notes: Isa 37:32 Heb “the zeal of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” ref...
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NET Notes: Isa 37:37 Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
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