The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday September 21, 2022 (NIV)

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

37 When King Hezekiah heard their report,^(A) he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,^(B) and went to the Lord’s temple. ² He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace.^(C) It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.^{(D) 4} Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,^(E) and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”^(F)

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶ who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid^(G) because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.^{(H) 7} I am about to put a spirit^(I) in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”^(J)

Sennacherib’s Letter

⁸ When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish,^(K) he left and found him fighting against Libnah.^{(L) 9} The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush,^(M) “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you^(N) by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹² Did the gods of the nations^(O) that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan,^(P) Haran,^(Q) Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of^[a] Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.^{(R) 15} Then Hezekiah prayed^(S) to the Lord:

¹⁶ Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^(T) you are God^(U)—you alone^(V)—of all the kingdoms of the earth.^(W) You made the heavens and the earth.^{(X) 17} Listen closely, Lord, and hear;^(Y) open your eyes, Lord, and see.^(Z) Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.^{(AA) 18} Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. ¹⁹ They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods^(AB) but made from wood and stone^(AC) by human hands.^(AD) So they have destroyed them. ²⁰ Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God^[b](AE)—you alone.^(AF)

God’s Answer through Isaiah

²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, ²² this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

³⁰ “‘This will be the sign for you:^(AU) This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹ The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root^(AV) downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For a remnant^(AW) will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.’^(AX)

³³ “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

³⁶ Then^(BA) the angel of the Lord^(BB) went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷ So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.^(BC)

³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.^(BD) Then his son Esar-haddon^(BE) became king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.^(BF) The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order,^(BG) for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”^[e]

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ³ He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly,^(BH) and have done what pleases you.”^(BI) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life.^{[f](BJ) 6} And I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.^{(BK) 7} This is the sign to you^(BL) from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: ⁸ I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on the stairway of Ahaz go back by ten steps.’”^(BM) So the sun’s shadow^[g] went back the ten steps it had descended.

⁹ A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

²¹ Now Isaiah^(CH) had said, “Let them take a lump of pressed figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover.” ²² And Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”

Carry One Another’s Burdens

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle^(A) spirit,^[a](B) watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.^{(C) 2} Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.^{(D) 3} For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing,^(E) he deceives himself. ⁴ Let each person examine his own work,^(F) and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. ⁵ For each person will have to carry his own load.

⁶ Let the one who is taught the word share^(G) all his good things with the teacher. ⁷ Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, ⁸ because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit^(H) will reap eternal life^(I) from the Spirit. ⁹ Let us not get tired^(J) of doing good,^(K) for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work^(L) for the good^(M) of all, especially for those who belong to the household^(N) of faith.^(O)

Concluding Exhortation

¹¹ Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting. ¹² Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh^(P) are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised^(Q)—but only to avoid being persecuted^(R) for the cross^(S) of Christ. ¹³ For even the circumcised don’t keep^(T) the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh. ¹⁴ But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. ¹⁵ For^[b] both circumcision and uncircumcision^(U) mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.^{(V) 16} May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel^(W) of God!^[c]

¹⁷ From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.^{(X) 18} Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.^(Y) Amen.

Psalm 65

God’s Care for the Earth

For the choir director. A psalm of David. A song.