Major Prophets · Chapter 37 of 66
Isaiah 37
Hearing Rabshakeh's threat, Hezekiah tears his clothes, enters the temple, and sends to Isaiah, who promises Assyria will withdraw and fall. When Sennacherib sends a further taunting letter, Hezekiah spreads it before the LORD and prays that God alone would save so all kingdoms know He is God. Isaiah announces Sennacherib's defeat. The angel of the LORD strikes 185,000 Assyrians overnight, and Sennacherib is slain by his own sons.
What happens in Isaiah 37
Hezekiah responds with humility, tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth, and going into the house of the LORD. He sends officials and priests to Isaiah, confessing a day of trouble and asking prayer for the surviving remnant. Isaiah replies not to fear the blasphemies, for God will send a spirit upon the Assyrian king so he hears a rumor, returns home, and falls by the sword. Sennacherib sends another letter threatening that no god has delivered any nation.
Hezekiah takes it into the temple, spreads it before the LORD, and prays, appealing to God as sole Creator and King, asking deliverance so all kingdoms may know He alone is God. Isaiah delivers an oracle mocking Assyria's pride and promising the city's protection for God's own sake and David's. That night the angel of the LORD strikes 185,000 in the Assyrian camp; Sennacherib withdraws to Nineveh and is later killed by his own sons.
Isaiah 37 in context
Continuing from chapter 36 and paralleling 2 Kings 19, this is the climax of the Assyrian crisis around 701 BC. Sennacherib had devastated Judah and demanded Jerusalem's surrender. The chapter contrasts Hezekiah's prayerful trust with Assyrian arrogance, and shows the LORD defending Zion for the sake of His own name and the Davidic covenant.
It stands as Isaiah's great demonstration that faith in God, not political calculation, is Judah's true security.
Main themes of Isaiah 37
Isaiah 37 (KJV)
1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. 5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, 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 unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 16O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 17Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. 18Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, 19And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 20Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only. 21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 25I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 26Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. 27Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 28But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 29Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 30And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. 31And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. 33Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 35For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. 36Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Verses to carry from Isaiah 37
“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.”Isaiah 37:16
“For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”Isaiah 37:35
“Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”Isaiah 37:36
Thematic connection
How Isaiah 37 points to Jesus
Hezekiah's prayer rests everything on God's covenant with David, and God defends Jerusalem for His servant David's sake. That Davidic thread runs through Scripture toward Jesus, whom the New Testament calls the Son of David, the King in whom the promise to David finds its lasting fulfillment. Where Hezekiah pleaded that all kingdoms might know the LORD alone is God, the gospel proclaims the same purpose reaching the ends of the earth through Christ.
The deliverance of Zion by God's direct intervention, not human arms, foreshadows the pattern of salvation the New Testament announces: God Himself rescues His people. The connection here is thematic and covenantal rather than a specific prediction, yet Hezekiah's trust and God's saving zeal anticipate the greater deliverance secured in David's greater Son.
Questions about Isaiah 37
What made Hezekiah's response different from mere despair?
Though he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth, Hezekiah did not collapse into hopelessness. He carried his grief into the temple, sought God's word through Isaiah, and finally spread the threatening letter before the LORD in prayer. His mourning became worship. Rather than answering Assyria on its own terms, he appealed to God as Creator and King, trusting deliverance to the One whose honor the taunts had insulted.
Why does God emphasize saving the city for His own sake and David's?
God grounds the rescue not in Judah's worthiness but in His own name and His covenant with David. This protects the deliverance from becoming a reward for merit and roots it in God's faithfulness. It answers Sennacherib's boast that no god can save, vindicating the LORD's honor, and it keeps alive the Davidic promise that Scripture later sees fulfilled in the Messiah from David's line.
Reflection
When threats pile up like an enemy's letter, Hezekiah teaches me to carry them into God's presence and spread them out before Him. My deepest concern can be reframed as a plea for God's honor: not merely rescue me, but act, that others may know You are God. Deliverance rests on His faithfulness, not my strength.
A prayer from Isaiah 37
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