Isaiah Saves Jerusalem

A Prophet Who Saved a Great City

Once the king of Assyria sent a high official with a great army to Jerusalem. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they called for Hezekiah the ruler of Judah, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, and they came out to them. And the high official said to them, "Why are you so confident? To whom do you look for help that you have rebelled against me? You count on Egypt to help you. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is as weak as a broken reed. But if you say, 'We trust in Jehovah our God,' is not he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has destroyed? Now therefore make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. How then can you conquer one of the least of my master's servants? Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without Jehovah's approval? Jehovah it was who said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"

Then Eliakim and Shebnah and Joah said to the high official, "Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; but do not speak with us in the Jewish language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." But the high official said to them, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Is it not rather to the men who sit on the wall, who will suffer most from the siege?"

Then the high official stood and cried with a loud voice, in the Jewish language, saying, "Hear the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 'Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to save you from my hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah by saying, Jehovah will surely save us, and this city shall not be given into the power of the king of Assyria.'"

"Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me and come over to me; then each one of you shall eat from his own vine and his own fig-tree and drink the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land full of grain and new wine, a land full of bread and vineyards, a land full of olive-trees and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, when he deceives you by saying, Jehovah will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever saved his land from the power of the king of Assyria? Have the gods of the land of Samaria saved Samaria from my power? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have saved their country from my power, that Jehovah should save Jerusalem from my power?'"

Then the people were silent and made no answer; for the ruler's command was, "Do not answer him." But Eliakim, the steward of the palace, and Shebnah, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, came to Hezekiah with torn clothes and told him the words of the high official. And as soon as Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the temple of Jehovah. And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebnah, the scribe and the oldest of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, the prophet. And they said to him, Hezekiah says, "This is a day of trouble, of discipline and of shame. It may be Jehovah your God will hear all the words of the high official, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to defy the living God, and will punish him for them; therefore lift up your prayer for the people."

When the servants of Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, "Take back this answer to your master: Jehovah says, 'Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me. I will put a spirit in him, so that he will hear bad news and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'"

So the high official returned and found the king of Assyria making war against Libnah, for he had heard that he had gone from Lachish. But the king of Assyria had heard that Tirkakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight against him. Now that very night the angel of Jehovah went out and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early the next morning, these were all dead.

Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went away and returned to Nineveh. While he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god, his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, became king in his place.

Jeremiah's Courage in Danger

The command came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, "Stand in the door of the temple and speak this message: 'Hear the word of Jehovah, all you people of Judah who enter these gates to worship him. Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: Change your ways and your deeds and I will let you live in this place. Trust not in misleading words, thinking, this is the temple of Jehovah. For if you really change your ways and your deeds, if you faithfully see that justice is done between a man and his neighbor, if you do no wrong to the foreigners who live among you, to the fatherless nor to the widow, and do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place nor follow other gods to your hurt, then I will let you stay in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.

"'But now you are trusting in misleading words that are useless. Will you steal, murder, tell lies and offer sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house which bears my name and say, We are free to do all these shameful deeds? Is this my house, which bears my name, in your eyes a den of robbers? I myself have seen these shameful deeds,' says Jehovah.

"'Then go to my temple which was at Shiloh, where people used to worship me at first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. Now because you have done all these deeds, and have paid no attention, although I spoke to you earnestly and often; and have not answered, although I called you, I will destroy the temple which bears my name, in which you trust, and the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did at Shiloh. I will also send you from my sight, as I have sent away your relatives, even all the Northern Israelites.'"

When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets seized him and said, "You must die. Why have you said in the name of Jehovah that this temple shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be deserted, with no one living in it?" And all the people were gathered about Jeremiah in the temple of Jehovah.

But when the public officials of Judah heard of these things, they came up from the palace to the temple of Jehovah and held court at the entrance, at the new gate of the temple. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to the people, "This man should be put to death, for he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears." But Jeremiah answered the officials and all the people, "It was Jehovah who sent me to prophesy against this temple and city all that you have heard. Now therefore change your ways and your deeds and listen to Jehovah your God; and he will not do the evil things that he has threatened to do to you. But as for me, see, I am in your power; do to me as you think right and proper. Only remember that, if you put me to death, you will bring upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants guilt for shedding innocent blood, for Jehovah has indeed sent me to you to tell you all these things."

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "This man does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God." Certain of the elders of the land rose and said to the assembly of the people, "Micah prophesied in the days when Hezekiah ruled over Judah, and said to the people of Judah, 'Jehovah of hosts says:

"Did Hezekiah and the people of Judah put him to death? Did they not rather fear Jehovah and ask him to forgive them, so that he did not do the evil things that he had threatened to do to them? But we are in danger of doing great harm to ourselves?"