Isaiah 37 - Easy To Read Version

¹ King Hezekiah listened to those things. Then Hezekiah tore his clothes \{to show he was upset\}. Then Hezekiah put on the special clothes of sadness and went to the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [346]}

² Hezekiah sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna the royal secretary, and the elders (leaders) of the priests {\cf2\super [347]} to the prophet, Isaiah son of Amoz. They wore the special clothes \{that showed they were sad and upset\}.

³ These men said to Isaiah, “King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day. It will be like a day when a child should be born, but is not strong enough to come from its mother’s body.

^4-6 The commander’s master, the king of Assyria, has sent him to say bad things about the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear all those things. Maybe the Lord will prove the enemy is wrong! So pray for the people that are still left alive.”

^7-9 Look, I will send a spirit against Assyria. \{The king of\} Assyria will get a report warning him about a danger to his country. So, he will go back to his country. At that time, I will kill him with a sword in his own country.’”

¹⁰ “You should tell these things to Hezekiah, the king of Judah:

¹¹ You have heard what the kings of Assyria did to all the other countries! They destroyed them completely! Will you be saved? No!

¹² Did the gods of those people save them? No! My ancestors {\cf2\super [350]} destroyed them all. They destroyed Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden {\cf2\super [351]} living in Tel Assar.

¹³ Where is the king of Hamath? The king of Arpad? The king of the city of Sepharvaim? The kings of Hena and Ivvah? \{They are all finished! They were all destroyed!\}

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers and read them. Then Hezekiah went to the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [352]} Hezekiah opened the letters and laid them out in front the Lord.

¹⁵ Hezekiah began praying to the Lord and said:

¹⁶ Lord All-Powerful, God of Israel, you sit as King on the Cherub angels. {\cf2\super [353]} You, and only you, are the God that rules all the kingdoms on earth. You made the heavens and the earth!

¹⁷ Lord, please listen to me. Lord, open your eyes and look at this message. Hear the words that Sennacherib sent to insult you, the living God!

¹⁸ It is true, Lord. The kings of Assyria did destroy all those nations!

¹⁹ The kings of Assyria have burned the gods of those nations. But those were not real gods. They were only wood and stone—statues that men made. That is why the kings of Assyria could destroy them.

²⁰ But you are the Lord our God. So please save us from the king of Assyria. Then all the other nations will know that you are the Lord, and you are the only \{God\}.

²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah. Isaiah said, “The Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘You prayed to me about the message that came from Sennacherib king of Assyria. I have heard you.’

²² “This is the Lord’s message about Sennacherib:

²³ But who did you insult and make fun of?\par Who did you speak against?\par You were against the Holy One of Israel!\par You acted like you were better than him!\par

²⁴ You sent your officers\par to insult the Lord my Master.\par You said,\par ‘\{I am very powerful!\}\par I have many, many chariots. {\cf2\super [354]} \par \{With my power I defeated Lebanon.\}\par I climbed the highest mountains\par of Lebanon. {\cf2\super [355]} \par I cut down all the great trees (armies)\par of Lebanon.\par I have been to the highest mountain\par and into the deepest part of that forest.\par

²⁵ I dug wells, and drank water\par \{from new places\}.\par I dried up the rivers of Egypt\par and walked on that country.’\par

²⁶ That is what you said.\}\par But haven’t you heard \{what I said\}?\par ‘I (God) planned it long ago,\par from ancient times I planned it.\par And now, I made it happen.\par I let you tear down the strong cities\par and change them into piles of rocks.\par

²⁷ The people in the cities had no power.\par Those people were scared\par and confused.\par They were about to be cut down\par like grass and plants in the field.\par They were like grass growing\par on the housetops,\par dying before it grows tall.\par

²⁸ \{I know all about your battles.\}\par I know when you rested.\par I know when you went out to war.\par I know when you came home from war.\par I also know when you were upset at me.\par

²⁹ Yes, you were upset at me.\par I heard your proud insults.\par So I will put my hook in your nose.\par And I will put my bit {\cf2\super [356]} in your mouth.\par Then I will turn you around\par and lead you back the way you came.’”\par

³⁰ \{Then the Lord said to Hezekiah,\} “I will give you a sign to show you that these words are true. \{You were not be able to plant seeds.\} So this year you will eat grain that grew wild from last year’s crop. But in three years, you will eat grain that you planted. You will harvest those crops and you will have plenty to eat. You will plant grapevines and eat their fruit.

³¹ “The people from the family of Judah that have escaped and are left \{alive\} will again begin to grow. \{These people will be like plants that\} send their roots deep into the ground and produce fruit above the ground.

³² Why? Because a few people will remain alive. They will go out from Jerusalem. There will be survivors coming from Mount Zion. {\cf2\super [357]} ” The strong love {\cf2\super [358]} of the Lord All-Powerful will do this.

³³ So the Lord says this about the king of Assyria:

³⁴ He will go back the same way he came.\par He will not come into this city.\par The Lord says this!\par

³⁵ I will protect this city and save it.\par I will do this for myself\par and for my servant David.”\par

³⁶ \{That night,\} the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up in the morning, they saw the dead bodies all around them.

³⁷ So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, went back to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁸ One day, Sennacherib was in the temple of his god, Nisroch, worshiping him. At that time his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with a sword. Then the sons ran away to Ararat. {\cf2\super [359]} So Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became the new king of Assyria.