Isaiah 37:26-29

26 “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.

27 Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched^[a] before it grows up.

28 “But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me.

29 Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.

Isaiah 37:26-29 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. Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28; 1 Peter 2:8
• 2. Isaiah 10:6; S Isaiah 25:1
• 3. S Deuteronomy 13:16; S Isaiah 25:2
• 4. S Isaiah 15:6
• 5. Psalms 129:6
• 6. Psalms 139:1-3
• 7. Psalms 2:1
• 8. Isaiah 10:12
• 9. S 2 Chronicles 33:11
• 10. S Job 40:24; Isaiah 30:28; Ezekiel 38:4
• 11. ver 34

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text "roof" / "and terraced fields"