Isaiah 37:29-37

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.

30 “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

33 “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.

34 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the LORD.

35 “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

Isaiah 37:29-37 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 10:12
• 2. S 2 Chronicles 33:11
• 3. S Job 40:24; Isaiah 30:28; Ezekiel 38:4
• 4. ver 34
• 5. S Isaiah 20:3
• 6. Isaiah 32:10
• 7. S Isaiah 16:14
• 8. S Leviticus 25:4
• 9. Psalms 107:37; Isaiah 30:23; Isaiah 65:21; Jeremiah 31:5
• 10. Isaiah 11:10
• 11. S Isaiah 27:6
• 12. S Isaiah 11:11
• 13. S Isaiah 1:9
• 14. S Isaiah 9:7
• 15. S Isaiah 32:18
• 16. S 2 Samuel 20:15
• 17. ver 29
• 18. S Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 38:6
• 19. Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 48:9,11; Ezekiel 36:21-22
• 20. S 1 Chronicles 17:19; 2 Kings 20:6
• 21. S Exodus 12:23
• 22. S Exodus 12:12
• 23. S Isaiah 10:12
• 24. S 2 Chronicles 32:1
• 25. S Genesis 10:11; S Nahum 1:1