Isaiah 37:17-27

17 1Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear 2all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
18 Truly, O LORD, 3the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
20 So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD."

Sennacherib's Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: "'She despises you, she scorns you-- 4the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you-- the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 "'Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against 5the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, 6With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, 7to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all 8the streams 9of Egypt.
26 10"'Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted[a] before it is grown.

Isaiah 37:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 37

In this chapter are contained Hezekiah's message to Isaiah, desiring his prayer for him and his people, in this time of sore distress, Isa 37:1-5, the comforting and encouraging answer returned by the prophet to him, Isa 37:6,7, the king of Assyria's letter to Hezekiah, to terrify him into a surrender of the city of Jerusalem to him, Isa 37:8-13 which Hezekiah spread before the Lord, and prayed unto him for deliverance, Isa 37:14-20, upon which he received a gracious answer by the hand of the prophet, promising safety and deliverance to him, and destruction to the king of Assyria, of which a sign was given, Isa 37:21-35 and the chapter is closed with the slaughter of the Assyrian army by an angel, the flight of the king, and his death by the hands of his sons, Isa 37:36-38.

Cross References 10

  • 1. [2 Chronicles 6:40]
  • 2. 2 Chronicles 32:19
  • 3. [Isaiah 10:13, 14]
  • 4. [Micah 4:13]; See Isaiah 1:8
  • 5. Isaiah 10:17
  • 6. [Isaiah 8:7, 8]
  • 7. [Isaiah 14:8]
  • 8. [Isaiah 19:6]
  • 9. [Isaiah 20:4]
  • 10. [Isaiah 10:5, 15; Isaiah 25:1, 2]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts like a field
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.