Isaiah 37:21-35

God Answers through Isaiah

21 Then ¹Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: "She has despised you and mocked you, The ²virgin ³daughter of Zion; She has ⁴shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem!

23 "Whom have you ⁵reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily ⁶lifted up your eyes? Against the ⁷Holy One of Israel!

24 "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 ⁸Lebanon; And I cut down its tall ⁹cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest ¹⁰forest.

25 'I dug wells and drank waters, And ¹¹with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.'

26 "¹²Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I ¹³planned it. Now ¹⁴I have brought it to pass, That ¹⁵you should turn fortified cities into ¹⁶ruinous heaps.

27 "Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the ¹⁷vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As ¹⁸grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.

28 "But I ¹⁹know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me.

29 "Because of your raging against Me And because your ²⁰arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My ²¹hook in your nose And My ²²bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back ²³by the way which you came.

30 "Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what ²⁴grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31 "The ²⁵surviving ²⁶remnant of the house of Judah will again ²⁷take root downward and bear fruit upward.

32 "For out of Jerusalem will go forth a ²⁸remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The ²⁹zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."'

33 "Therefore, thus says the LORD 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 ³⁰siege ramp against it.

34 '³¹By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,' declares the LORD.

35 'For I will ³²defend this city to save it ³³for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.' "

Isaiah 37:21-35 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

• 1. Isaiah 37:2
• 2. Jeremiah 14:17; Lamentations 2:13
• 3. Psalms 9:14; Zephaniah 3:14; Zechariah 2:10
• 4. Job 16:4
• 5. Isaiah 37:4
• 6. Isaiah 2:11; Isaiah 5:15, 21
• 7. Ezekiel 39:7; Habakkuk 1:12
• 8. Isaiah 10:33, 34
• 9. Isaiah 14:8
• 10. Isaiah 10:18
• 11. Deuteronomy 11:10; 1 Kings 20:10
• 12. Isaiah 40:21, 28
• 13. Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27, 28; 1 Peter 2:8
• 14. Isaiah 46:11
• 15. Isaiah 10:6
• 16. Isaiah 17:1; Isaiah 25:2
• 17. Isaiah 40:7
• 18. Psalms 129:6
• 19. Psalms 139:1
• 20. Isaiah 10:12
• 21. Ezekiel 29:4; Ezekiel 38:4
• 22. Isaiah 30:28
• 23. Isaiah 37:34
• 24. Leviticus 25:5, 11
• 25. Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 10:20
• 26. Isaiah 37:4
• 27. Isaiah 27:6
• 28. Isaiah 37:4
• 29. 2 Kings 19:31; Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 59:17; Joel 2:18; Zechariah 1:14
• 30. Jeremiah 6:6; Jeremiah 32:24
• 31. Isaiah 37:29
• 32. 2 Kings 20:6; Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 38:6
• 33. Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 48:9, 11

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "on high"
• [b]. Lit "farthest height"
• [c]. Or "the besieged place"
• [d]. So DSS and 2 Kin 19:26; M.T. as "a plowed field"
• [e]. Lit "complacency"
• [f]. Lit "eating"
• [g]. Lit "those who escape"