Bible reading for the day: 206_07-Jul-25_Isa37-39_Psa76Isa 37:2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. Isa 37:3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. Isa 37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of 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, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.'" Isa 37:5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Isa 37:6 Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says the Lord, "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Isa 37:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'" Isa 37:8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. Isa 37:9 When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush," He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, Isa 37:10 "Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." Isa 37:11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? Isa 37:12 Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? Isa 37:13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'" Isa 37:14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Isa 37:15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, Isa 37:16 "O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Isa 37:17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. Isa 37:18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, Isa 37:19 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Isa 37:20 Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God." Isa 37:21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, Isa 37:22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:" She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! Isa 37:23 "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! Isa 37:24 "Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. Isa 37:25 'I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.' Isa 37:26 "Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Isa 37:27 "Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. Isa 37:28 "But I know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me. Isa 37:29 "Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has 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. Isa 37:30 "Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Isa 37:31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Isa 37:32 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."' Isa 37:33 "Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it. Isa 37:34 By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city, 'declares the Lord. Isa 37:35 'For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'" Isa 37:36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. Isa 37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. Isa 37:38 It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place. -------- Isa 38:1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'" Isa 38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, Isa 38:3 and said, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Isa 38:4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, Isa 38:5 "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. Isa 38:6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."' Isa 38:7 "This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: Isa 38:8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down. Isa 38:9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: Isa 38:10 I said, "In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years." Isa 38:11 I said, "I will not see the Lord, The Lord in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world. Isa 38:12 "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. Isa 38:13 "I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me. Isa 38:14 "Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security. Isa 38:15 "What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. Isa 38:16 "O Lord, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; O restore me to health and let me live! Isa 38:17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. Isa 38:18 "For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. Isa 38:19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness. Isa 38:20 "The Lord will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the Lord." Isa 38:21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover." Isa 38:22 Then Hezekiah had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?" -------- Isa 39:1 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Isa 39:2 Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. Isa 39:3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon." Isa 39:4 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 treasuries that I have not shown them." Isa 39:5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts, Isa 39:6 'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left, 'says the Lord. Isa 39:7 'And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" Isa 39:8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "For there will be peace and truth in my days." -------- Psa 76:1 God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel. Psa 76:2 His tabernacle is in Salem; His dwelling place also is in Zion. Psa 76:3 There He broke the flaming arrows, The shield and the sword and the weapons of war. Selah. Psa 76:4 You are resplendent, More majestic than the mountains of prey. Psa 76:5 The stouthearted were plundered, They sank into sleep; And none of the warriors could use his hands. Psa 76:6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. Psa 76:7 You, even You, are to be feared; And who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry? Psa 76:8 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still Psa 76:9 When God arose to judgment, To save all the humble of the earth. Selah. Psa 76:10 For the wrath of man shall praise You; With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself. Psa 76:11 Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared. Psa 76:12 He will cut off the spirit of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.
====== TODAY ================= Day 204 -- 23 July: Isaiah 31-34======================= Today's Date: |