Isaiah 37:17

Translations

Modern

Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

Traditional

Incline 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.

Literal

Incline, O YHWH, Your ear, and hear; open, O YHWH, Your eyes, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living God.

Latin

Inclina, Domine, aurem tuam, et audi; aperi, Domine, oculos tuos, et vide: et audi omnia verba Sennacherib, quæ misit ad blasphemandum Deum viventem.

Original

Hebrew

English

Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

Notes

Isaiah 37:14–20

When Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s boastful threat, he went back to the temple and prayed for help. His prayer was different from Ahaz’s reaction to danger decades earlier (see Isaiah 7).

Isaiah 36:1–39:8

Jerusalem’s rescue from King Sennacherib of Assyria is a main event in Isaiah 1–39. The Lord promised to save his people. He would remain present with Jerusalem (see 7:14). He would also keep a remnant, a small group who would survive (see study note on Isaiah 10:20).

Much of the land became empty and the population greatly reduced. This happened because Judah made a foolish alliance with Assyria (chapters 7–8). Even so, the Lord did not allow total defeat. He preserved his people through Hezekiah, a faithful king.

Hezekiah faced the same kind of test that King Ahaz had faced. It was a test of trust in the Lord. In chapter 36, the Assyrian officer repeats the word trust as he challenges the people. But Hezekiah had learned from the earlier warnings in chapters 13–35. At least at first, he trusted God and passed the test.

This story also appears in 2 Kings 18:13–20:19.

Theme notes and profiles

Assyria Hezekiah Isaiah Fearing People Invasion Salvation in Isaiah Trusting God in Isaiah

Events

Prophecies of Isaiahc. 759 BC

Related verses

2 Chronicles 6:40
Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
Psalm 17:6
I call on You, O God, for You will answer me. Incline Your ear to me; hear my words.
1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Psalm 10:14–15
But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
Isaiah 37:4
Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
Psalm 74:22
Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
Psalm 71:2
In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
Psalm 74:10
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
Psalm 79:12
Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
Psalm 89:50–51
Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—
Psalm 130:1–2
A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!
2 Samuel 16:12
Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”

Parallels

2 Kings 19:14–19

People

Sennacherib: Assyrian Emperor who invaded Judah

Glossary

Assyria, Assyrians Hezekiah History of Israel Inscriptions Isaiah, Book of Kings, Books of First and Second Micah (Person) Shebna

Topics

Blasphemy: Rabshakeh, in the Siege of Jerusalem Libnah: A City of the Tribe of Judah, Captured by Joshua: Sennacherib Besieged Prayer: Pleas offered In Reviling and Reproaching: Sennacherib

Isaiah 37:17

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