[37:21] Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, [37:22] this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. [37:23] Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. [37:24] By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, "With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. [37:25] I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt." [37:26] Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. [37:27] Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. [37:28] But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. [37:29] Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. [37:30] This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. [37:31] The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. [37:32] For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.' [37:33] Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. [37:34] By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,' says Yahweh. [37:35] 'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"
[37:36] The angel of Yahweh went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. [37:37] So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there. [37:38] It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
[38:1] In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.'"
[38:2] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, [38:3] and said, "Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.
[38:4] Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying, [38:5] "Go, and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. [38:6] I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. [38:7] This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken. [38:8] Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down."'"
[38:9] The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.
I said, "In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years." [38:11] I said, "I won't see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world. [38:12] My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me. [38:13] I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me. [38:14] I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security." [38:15] What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul. [38:16] Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live. [38:17] Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back. [38:18] For Sheol can't praise you. Death can't celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth. [38:19] The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day. The father shall make known your truth to the children. [38:20] Yahweh will save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Yahweh.
[38:21] Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover." [38:22] Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I will go up to the house of Yahweh?"
[39:1] At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered. [39:2] Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them. [39:3] Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and asked him, "What did these men say? Where did they come from to you?"