Isaiah 37:10-20

10 "Don't let your God, on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won't fall to the king of Assyria.

11 Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world - one country after another devastated! And do you think you're going to get off?

12 Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed - Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?

13 Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?"

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.

15 Then Hezekiah prayed to God:

16 "God-of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth.

17 Listen, O God, and hear. Look, O God, and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God.

18 It's quite true, O God, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands.

19 They've thrown their gods into the trash and burned them - no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods!

20 But now step in, O God, our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are God."

Isaiah 37:10-20 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.