Isaiah 37:21-35

Sennacherib’s Fall

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 this is the word the LORD has spoken against him: “Virgin Daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
23 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests.
25 I have dug wells in foreign lands[a]and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
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[b] 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.
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!”

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 41

  • 1. S ver 2
  • 2. S Isaiah 23:12
  • 3. S Isaiah 10:32
  • 4. S Job 16:4
  • 5. ver 4; S Numbers 15:30; Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:20,23; Daniel 7:25
  • 6. S Job 15:25
  • 7. S Isaiah 2:11
  • 8. S Isaiah 1:4; S Isaiah 12:6
  • 9. Isaiah 36:9
  • 10. Isaiah 14:13
  • 11. S 1 Kings 7:2; S Isaiah 14:8; S Isaiah 33:9
  • 12. 1 Kings 5:8-10; Isaiah 41:19; Isaiah 55:13; Isaiah 60:13; Hosea 14:8
  • 13. S Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 44:27
  • 14. S Deuteronomy 11:10; S Isaiah 10:14; Daniel 4:30
  • 15. Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28; 1 Peter 2:8
  • 16. Isaiah 10:6; S Isaiah 25:1
  • 17. S Deuteronomy 13:16; S Isaiah 25:2
  • 18. S Isaiah 15:6
  • 19. Psalms 129:6
  • 20. Psalms 139:1-3
  • 21. Psalms 2:1
  • 22. Isaiah 10:12
  • 23. S 2 Chronicles 33:11
  • 24. S Job 40:24; Isaiah 30:28; Ezekiel 38:4
  • 25. ver 34
  • 26. S Isaiah 20:3
  • 27. Isaiah 32:10
  • 28. S Isaiah 16:14
  • 29. S Leviticus 25:4
  • 30. Psalms 107:37; Isaiah 30:23; Isaiah 65:21; Jeremiah 31:5
  • 31. Isaiah 11:10
  • 32. S Isaiah 27:6
  • 33. S Isaiah 11:11
  • 34. S Isaiah 1:9
  • 35. S Isaiah 9:7
  • 36. S Isaiah 32:18
  • 37. S 2 Samuel 20:15
  • 38. ver 29
  • 39. S Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 38:6
  • 40. Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 48:9,11; Ezekiel 36:21-22
  • 41. S 1 Chronicles 17:19; 2 Kings 20:6

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kings 19:24); Masoretic Text does not have "in foreign lands."
  • [b]. 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"
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