Isaiah 34 - 39 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 34 - 39

Yahweh’s Wrath Against the Nations

Draw near, O nations, to hear; and pay attention, O peoples!

Let the earth hear, as well as its fullness, the world and all that springs from it.

For the indignation of Yahweh is against all the nations,

And His wrath against all their hosts;

He has devoted them to destruction;

He has given them over to slaughter.

So their slain will be cast out,

And their corpses will give off their stench,

And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

And all the host of heaven will rot away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree.

For My sword is satiated in heaven;

Behold, it shall descend for judgment upon Edom

And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood;

It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

And wild oxen will also fall with them,

And young bulls with strong ones;

Thus their land will be soaked with blood,

And their dust become greasy with fat.

For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,

A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

And its streams will be turned into pitch,

And its dust into brimstone,

And its land will become burning pitch.

It will not be quenched night or day;

Its smoke will go up forever.

From generation to generation it will be laid waste;

None will pass through it forever and ever.

But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,

And owl and raven will dwell in it;

And He will stretch over it the line of utter formlessness

And the plumb line of utter void.

Its nobles—there is no one there

Whom they may proclaim king—

And all its princes will be non‑existent.

And thorns will come up in its fortified towers,

Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;

It will also be a haunt of jackals

And an abode of ostriches.

And the desert creatures will meet with the wolves;

The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;

Surely, the night creature will obtain relief there

And will find itself a resting place.

The owl will make its nest and find its escape there,

And it will hatch its eggs and gather them in its shade.

Surely, the falcons will be gathered there,

Every one with its kind.

16 Seek from the book of Yahweh, and read:

Not one of these will be missing;

None will lack its mate.

For His mouth has commanded,

And His Spirit has gathered them.

He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it to them by line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

The Joy of the Redeemed

The wilderness and the desert will be delighted,

And the Arabah will rejoice and flourish;

Like the crocus

It will flourish profusely

And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of Yahweh,

The majesty of our God.

Strengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling.

Say to those with an anxious heart,

“Be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance;

The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah.

Then the scorched land will become a pool

And the thirsty ground springs of water;

In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,

Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

And a roadway will be there, a highway,

And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.

The unclean will not pass by on it,

But it will be for him who walks in that way,

And ignorant fools will not wander on it.

No lion will be there,

Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;

These will not be found there.

But the redeemed will walk there,

And the ransomed of Yahweh will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting gladness upon their heads.

They will attain delight and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

Now it happened in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a heavy military force. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him. 4 Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this trust that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your counsel and might for the war are only empty words.’ Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 So now, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to give riders for them. 9 How then can you turn away one official of the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 So now, have I come up without the approval of Yahweh against this land to make it a ruin? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and make it a ruin.’”’” 11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” 13 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 and do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree, and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that Yahweh would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’” 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

Now it happened that when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household with Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and rejection; for children have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. 4 Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’” 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a report and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’” 8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had set out from Lachish. 9 Then he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” So he heard it and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall 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 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. So will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of those nations, which my fathers have brought to ruin, deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of Yahweh and spread it out before Yahweh. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh saying, 16 “O Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. 18 Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste to all the countries and their lands 19 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 But now, O Yahweh our God, save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are Yahweh, You alone.”

Yahweh’s Answer Through Isaiah

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him:

“She has despised you and mocked you,

The virgin daughter of Zion;

She has shaken her head behind you,

The daughter of Jerusalem!

Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?

And against whom have you heightened your voice

And haughtily lifted up your eyes?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

Through your servants you have reproached the Lord,

And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,

To the remotest parts of Lebanon;

And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.

And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest.

I dug wells and drank waters,

And with the sole of my feet I dried up

All the rivers of Egypt.’

Have you not heard?

Long ago I did it;

From days of old I formed it.

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

So their inhabitants were short of power;

They were dismayed and put to shame;

They were as the plant of the field and as the green herb,

As grass on the rooftops is scorched before it rises.

But I know your sitting down

And your going out and your coming in

And your raging against Me.

Because of your raging against Me

And because your presumptuousness has come up to My ears,

Therefore I will put My hook in your nose

And My bridle in your lips,

And I will turn you back by the way which you came.

30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of its own accord, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, 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 forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.”’ 33 “Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares Yahweh. 35 ‘Indeed I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

The Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

36 Then the angel of Yahweh went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And the men arose early in the morning, and behold, all of them were dead bodies. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 Now it happened that as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh 3 and said, “Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept greatly. 4 Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’ 7 “Now this shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this word that He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down. 9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10

I said, “In the middle of my life

I am to enter the gates of Sheol;

I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.”

I said, “I will not see Yah,

Yah in the land of the living;

I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;

As a weaver I rolled up my life.

He cuts me off from the loom;

From day until night You make an end of me.

I soothed my soul until morning.

Like a lion—so He shatters all my bones;

From day until night You make an end of me.

Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirped;

I moan like a dove;

My eyes look wistfully to the heights;

O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

“What shall I say?

Indeed, He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;

I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

O Lord, by these things men live,

And in all these is the life of my spirit;

O restore me to health and let me live!

Behold, for my own well‑being I had great bitterness;

But it is You who has held back my soul from the pit of nothingness,

For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

For Sheol cannot thank You;

Death cannot praise You;

Those who go down to the pit cannot keep watch for Your truth.

It is the living, the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;

A father makes known to his sons about Your truth.

Yahweh is here to save me;

So we will play my songs on stringed instruments

All the days of our life at the house of Yahweh.”

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take up a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may live.” 22 Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?”

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures to Babylon

At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and was growing stronger. 2 And Hezekiah was glad about these things and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the good oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts, 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have treasured up to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh. 7 ‘And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good.” For he said, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”