37

Isaiah Assures Deliverance

¹And ⚓so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of ⚓trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ⚓reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer

⁸Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. ⁹And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ¹²Have the ⚓gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of ⚓Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You ⚓alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷⚓Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and ⚓hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁸Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their ⚓lands, ¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were⚓not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. ²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, ⚓save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may ⚓know that You are the Lord, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shaken her head behind your back!
²³“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
²⁴By your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter its farthest height,
To its fruitful forest.
²⁵I have dug and drunk water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of defense.’
²⁶“Did you not hear ⚓long ago
How I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
²⁷Therefore their inhabitants had little power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field
And the green herb,
As the grass on the housetops
And grain blighted before it is grown.
²⁸“But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
²⁹Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have 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“This shall be a sign to you:
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
³¹And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
³²For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
The ⚓zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
³³“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
³⁴By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And 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 My servant ⚓David’s sake.’ ”

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

³⁶Then the ⚓angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. ³⁸Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then ⚓Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

37

国王差人征求以赛亚的意见

（王下19．1－7）

¹希西家王听见了，就撕裂衣服，披上麻衣，进了耶和华的殿。 ²他差遣以利亚敬宫廷总管和舍伯那书记，并祭司中年长的，都披上麻衣，到亚摩斯的儿子以赛亚先知那里去。 ³他们对他说：“希西家如此说：‘今日是急难、惩罚、凌辱的日子，就如婴孩快要出生，却没有力气生产。 ⁴或许耶和华－你的上帝听见亚述将军的话，就是他主人亚述王差他来辱骂永生上帝的话，耶和华－你的上帝就斥责所听见的这些话。求你为幸存的余民扬声祷告。’”
⁵希西家王的臣仆就来到以赛亚那里。 ⁶以赛亚对他们说：“要对你们的主人这样说，耶和华如此说：‘你听见亚述王的仆人亵渎我的话，不要惧怕。 ⁷看哪，因为我必惊动他的心⚓，他要听见风声就归回本地，在那里我必使他倒在刀下。’”

亚述王再来威胁

（王下19．8－19）

⁸亚述将军听见亚述王已拔营离开拉吉，就启程返回，正遇见亚述王去攻打立拿。 ⁹亚述王听见有人谈论古实王特哈加说：“他出来要与你争战。”亚述王一听见，就差使者去见希西家，说： ¹⁰“你们要对犹大王希西家如此说：‘不要听你所倚靠的上帝欺哄你说：耶路撒冷必不交在亚述王的手中。 ¹¹看哪，你总听说亚述诸王向列国所行的是尽行灭绝，难道你能幸免吗？ ¹²我祖先所毁灭的，就是歌散、哈兰、利色和提．拉撒的伊甸人；这些国的神明何曾拯救他们呢？ ¹³哈马的王，亚珥拔的王，西法瓦音城的王，希拿和以瓦的王，都在哪里呢？’”
¹⁴希西家从使者手里接过书信，看完了，就上耶和华的殿，在耶和华面前展开书信。 ¹⁵希西家向耶和华祷告说： ¹⁶“坐在基路伯之上万军之耶和华－以色列的上帝啊，你，惟有你是地上万国的上帝，你创造了天和地。 ¹⁷耶和华啊，求你侧耳而听；耶和华啊，求你睁眼而看，听西拿基立差遣使者辱骂永生上帝的一切话。 ¹⁸耶和华啊，亚述诸王果然使列国和列国之地变为荒芜， ¹⁹将列国的神明扔在火里，因为它们不是神明，是人手所造的，是木头、石头，所以被灭绝了。 ²⁰耶和华－我们的上帝啊，现在求你救我们脱离亚述王的手，使地上万国都知道惟有你是耶和华。”

以赛亚给王的信息

（王下19．20－37）

²¹亚摩斯的儿子以赛亚就差人去见希西家，说：“耶和华－以色列的上帝如此说，你因亚述王西拿基立的事向我祈求， ²²所以耶和华论他这样说：
‘少女锡安⚓藐视你，嘲笑你；
耶路撒冷⚓向你摇头。

²³“‘你辱骂谁，亵渎谁，
扬起声来，高举眼目攻击谁呢？
你攻击的是以色列的圣者。
²⁴你藉臣仆辱骂主说：
我率领许多战车登上高山，
到黎巴嫩的顶端；
我要砍伐其中高大的香柏树
和上好的松树。
我必上到极高之处，
进入茂盛的森林里。
²⁵我已经挖井喝水⚓；
我必用脚掌踏干埃及一切的河流。

²⁶“‘你岂没有听见
我早先所定、古时所立、现今实现的事吗？
就是让你去毁坏坚固的城镇，使它们变为废墟；
²⁷城里居民的力量甚小，
他们惊惶羞愧；
像野草，像青菜，
如房顶上的草，
被东风刮散⚓。

²⁸“‘你站起，你坐下，你出去，你进来，
你向我发烈怒，我都知道。
²⁹因你向我发烈怒，
你的狂傲上达我耳中，
我要用钩子钩住你的鼻子，
将嚼环放在你口里，
使你从原路转回去。’

³⁰“我赐给你的预兆：你们今年要吃野生的，明年也要吃自长的；后年，你们就要耕种收割，栽葡萄园，吃其中的果子。 ³¹犹大家所逃脱剩余的，仍要往下扎根，向上结果。 ³²必有剩余的民从耶路撒冷而出；有逃脱的人从锡安山而来。万军之耶和华的热心必成就这事。
³³“所以耶和华论亚述王如此说：他必不得来到这城，也不在这里射箭，不得拿盾牌到城前，也不能建土堆攻城。 ³⁴他从哪条路来，必从那条路回去，必不得来到这城。这是耶和华说的。 ³⁵因我为自己的缘故，又为我仆人大卫的缘故，必保护拯救这城。”

³⁶耶和华的使者出去，在亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。清早有人起来，看哪，都是死尸。 ³⁷亚述王西拿基立就拔营回去，住在尼尼微。 ³⁸一日，他在他的神明尼斯洛庙里叩拜，他儿子亚得米勒和沙利色用刀杀了他，然后逃到亚拉腊地；他儿子以撒．哈顿接续他作王。