NKJV Bible in 365 Days
Hezekiah's Deliverance and Prayer — July 3
Isaiah 36-38
Isaiah 36
1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 365N 184.1
2 Then the king of Assyria sent the [a] Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 365N 184.2
3 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him. 365N 184.3
4 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust? 365N 184.4
5 I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are [b] mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 365N 184.5
6 Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 365N 184.6
7 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” ’ 365N 184.7
8 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 365N 184.8
9 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 365N 184.9
10 Have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ” 365N 184.10
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in [c] Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 365N 184.11
12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?” 365N 184.12
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 365N 184.13
14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 365N 184.14
15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord , saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ 365N 184.15
16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 365N 184.16
17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 365N 184.17
18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 365N 184.18
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 365N 184.19
20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ” 365N 184.20
21 But they [d] held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 365N 184.21
22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. 365N 184.22
Isaiah 37
1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord . 365N 184.23
2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 365N 184.24
3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and [a] blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. 365N 184.25
4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” 365N 184.26
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 365N 184.27
6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord : “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 365N 184.28
7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ” 365N 184.29
8 Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. 365N 184.30
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 365N 184.31
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 365N 184.32
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 365N 184.33
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 365N 184.34
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ” 365N 184.35
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord , and spread it before the Lord . 365N 184.36
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord , saying: 365N 184.37
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 365N 184.38
17 Incline Your ear, O Lord , and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord , and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 365N 184.39
18 Truly, Lord , the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 365N 184.40
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 365N 184.41
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord , You alone.” 365N 184.42
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, 365N 184.43
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! 365N 184.44
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. 365N 184.45
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. 365N 184.46
25 I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of [b] defense.’ 365N 184.47
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. 365N 184.48
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. 365N 184.49
28 “But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. 365N 184.50
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.” ’ 365N 184.51
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. 365N 184.52
31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward. 365N 184.53
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. 365N 184.54
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. 365N 184.55
34 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord . 365N 184.56
35 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” 365N 184.57
36 Then the angel [c] of the Lord went out, and [d] killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 365N 184.58
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 365N 184.59
38 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. 365N 184.60
Isaiah 38
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord : ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ” 365N 184.61
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord , 365N 184.62
3 and said, “Remember now, O Lord , I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a [a] loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 365N 184.63
4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 365N 184.64
5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord , the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. 365N 184.65
6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’ 365N 184.66
7 And this is the sign to you from the Lord , that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken: 365N 184.67
8 Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down. 365N 184.68
9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: 365N 184.69
10 I said, “In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.” 365N 184.70
11 I said, “I shall not see [b] Yah , The Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more [c] among the inhabitants of [d] the world. 365N 184.71
12 My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. 365N 184.72
13 I have considered until morning— Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me. 365N 184.73
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O [e] Lord , I am oppressed; [f] Undertake for me! 365N 184.74
15 “What shall I say? [g] He has both spoken to me, And He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul. 365N 184.75
16 O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live. 365N 184.76
17 Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 365N 184.77
18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. 365N 184.78
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children. 365N 184.79
20 “The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord .” 365N 184.80
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.” 365N 184.81
22 And Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord ?” 365N 184.82