The macarthur study bibl.., p.325
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, page 325
Every one with her mate.
16“Search from tthe book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these shall fail;
Not one shall lack her mate.
For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.
17He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
The Future Glory of Zion
Isaiah 35
The Future Glory of Zion
1The awilderness and the 1wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the bdesert2 shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
2c It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the dglory of the LORD,
The excellency of our God.
3e Strengthen the 3weak hands,
And make firm the 4feeble knees.
4Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with fvengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and gsave you.”
5Then the heyes of the blind shall be opened,
And ithe ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6Then the jlame shall leap like a deer,
And the ktongue of the dumb sing.
For lwaters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
7The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In mthe habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8A nhighway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
o The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
9p No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
10And the qransomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And rsorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 36
Sennacherib Boasts Against the LORD
(2 Kin. 18:13–37; 2 Chr. 32:1–19)
1Now ait 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.
2Then the king of Assyria sent the 1Rabshakeh 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.
3And bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, cShebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
4dThen 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?
5“I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are 2mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
6“Look! You are trusting in the estaff 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 ftrust in him.
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’?” ’
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!
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?
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.’ ”
11Then 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 3Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
12But 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?”
13Then 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!
14“Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
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.” ’
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; gand 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;
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.
18‘Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any one of the hgods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered iSamaria from my hand?
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?’ ”
21But they 4held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
22Then 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.
Isaiah 37
Isaiah Assures Deliverance
(2 Kin. 19:1–7)
1And aso it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2Then 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.
3And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of btrouble and rebuke and 1blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.
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 creproach 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.’ ”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And 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.
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.” ’ ”
Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer
(2 Kin. 19:8–19)
8Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9And 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,
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.”
11‘Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12‘Have the dgods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13‘Where is the king of eHamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14And 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.
15Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying:
16“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You falone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17g“Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hhear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18“Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their ilands,
19“and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were jnot gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20“Now therefore, O LORD our God, ksave us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may lknow that You are the LORD, You alone.”
The Word of the LORD Concerning Sennacherib
(2 Kin. 19:20–34)
21Then 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,
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.
24By 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.
25I have dug and drunk water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of 2defense.’
26“Did you not hear mlong 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.
27Therefore 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.
29Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore nI will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will oturn 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.
31And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
The pzeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
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.
34By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says the LORD.
35‘For I will qdefend this city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant rDavid’s sake.’ ”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
(2 Kin. 19:35–37)
36Then the sangel3 of the LORD went out, and 4killed 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.
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
38Now 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 tEsarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Isaiah 38
Hezekiah’s Life Extended
(2 Kin. 20:1–11; 2 Chr. 32:24–26)
1In athose 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: b‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”
2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD,
3and said, c“Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a 1loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your dsight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
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.
6“I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and eI will defend this city.” ’
7“And this is fthe sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken:
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.
9This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10I said,
“In the prime of my life
I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11I said,
“I shall not see 2YAH,
The LORD gin the land of the living;
I shall observe man no more 3among the inhabitants of 4the world.
12h 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.
13I have considered until morning—
Like a lion,
So He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You make an end of me.
14Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;
i I mourned like a dove;
My eyes fail from looking upward.
O 5LORD, I am oppressed;
6 Undertake for me!
15“What shall I say?
7 He has both spoken to me,
And He Himself has done it.
I shall walk carefully all my years
j In the bitterness of my soul.
16O 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.
17Indeed 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.
18For kSheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19The living, the living man, he shall praise You,
As I do this day;
l The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
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.”
21Now mIsaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”
22And nHezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”
Isaiah 39
The Babylonian Envoys
(2 Kin. 20:12–19)
1At athat time 1Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
2bAnd Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
3Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a cfar country, from Babylon.”
4And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
6‘Behold, the days are coming dwhen all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD.
7‘And they shall take away some of your esons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
