Isaiah 37:22-32

22 this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
23 "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest.
25 I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.'
26 "Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
28 "But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.
29 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came." '
30 "This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 37:22-32 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.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.