isaiah 38 through 40

Read Isaiah 38 through 40 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Isa 38:1-3 {s} Hezekiah’s sickness + Isaiah’s word + Hezekiah’s prayer with tears
Isa 38:4-8 {s} YHVH: I have heard your prayer + added 15 years to your life/ the miracle of the sundial
Isa 38:9-22 {s} Hezekiah’s song of thanksgiving
Isa 39:1-2 {s} Babylonian envoy sent to Hezekiah with a gift/ he showed them all his house + treasures
Isa 39:3-8 {p} Isaiah: The day is coming when your house + treasures will be taken to Babylon
Isa 40:1-2 {s} Comfort for God’s people + Jerusalem, for her warfare ended, iniquity pardoned
Isa 40:3-5 {p} The voice of one crying: prepare the way of YHVH for His glory shall be revealed
Isa 40:6-8 {s} The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever
Isa 40:9-11 {s} You who bring good news, say to Judah: Behold your God! He will rule + feed His flock
Isa 40:12-16 {p} The greatness of God contrasted to the extreme smallness of the nations
Isa 40:17-20 {s}The nations are nothing, to whom will you liken God? A carved image?
Isa 40:21-24 {s} He who sits above the circle of the earth brings the princes to nothing
Isa 40:25-26 {s} To whom will you liken God? He has created all the eye sees, He brings out the host of heaven
Isa 40:27-31 {s} God who is never wearied gives power to the faint/ those who wait on Him shall renew their strength

The strong theme was a puzzle; here are the paragraph divisions:

Isa 36:16b-22 {s} Where are the gods who have not delivered others from Assyria? Nor shall the LORD deliver you
Isa 37:1-14 {s} Thus says YHVH: Do not be afraid of the words with which the king of Assyria has blasphemed Me
Isa 37:15-32 {s} Hezekiah’s prayer: Save us, O YHVH!/ YHVH’s answer: I will turn him back by the way he came
Isa 37:33-35 {s} He shall not come into this city, for I will defend it to save it, for My own + David’s sake
Isa 37:36-38 {s} The Angel of YHVH slew 185,000 Assyrians in the camp/ Sennacherib returned, was murdered
Isa 38:1-3 {s} Hezekiah’s sickness + Isaiah’s word + Hezekiah’s prayer with tears
Isa 38:4-8 {s} YHVH: I have heard your prayer + added 15 years to your life/ the miracle of the sundial
Isa 38:9-22 {s} Hezekiah’s song of thanksgiving
Isa 39:1-2 {s} Babylonian envoy sent to Hezekiah with a gift/ he showed them all his house + treasures
Isa 39:3-8 {p} Isaiah: The day is coming when your house + treasures will be taken to Babylon

It opens with the threats from Assyria that Jerusalem will be overcome, and closes with the word from Isaiah that it will be Babylon which will carry off the treasures of Jerusalem. In between are two miraculous deliverances: the Angel of the LORD which slew 185,000 in the Assyrian camp, and so Sennacherib returned home; and Hezekiah’s healing and the miracle of the sundial. (Why would Babylonian envoys be sent to Hezekiah because of this miracle? They were the premier astronomers of the ancient world, and they of course noted the backwards movement of the sun.) It didn’t seem to form a coherent whole.

But then I realized, it was not the word of Sennacherib which came to pass, but the word of YHVH. With Sennacherib’s word, all the circumstances seemed to say that his word would surely come to pass – but it didn’t. With YHVH’s word concerning the Babylonians, all the circumstances seemed to say that His word would NOT surely come to pass – the Babylonians came with gifts and friendship and esteem. But, it did. And that is the strong theme. ♥

The strong themes:

Isa 36:16b-39:8 {sx9+p} YHVH’s deliverance from enemies + sickness, restoration to life: it is the LORD’s word which will prevail
Isa 40:1-5 {s+p} Comfort for God’s people + Jerusalem, for her warfare ended, iniquity pardoned + YHVH is coming
Isa 40:6-16 {s+s+p} Flesh + nations wither to nothing; but the word of God stands + His gentleness + greatness you will behold

Chapters 36 through 39, the historical narrative, forms a chiastic structure:

1a) Isa 36:1-22 {s+p+s} The arrival of the hostile Assyrian army + envoy/ his threats;

1b) Isa 37:1-21 {s} Hezekiah’s distress/ Isaiah’s word of deliverance/ Hezekiah’s prayer;

1c) Isa 37:22-32 {s} YHVH’s answer: I will turn him back by the way he came;

central axis) Isa 37:33-35 {s} He shall not come into this city, for I will defend it to save it, for My own + David’s sake;

2c) Isa 37:36-38 {s} The Angel of YHVH slew 185,000 Assyrians in the camp/ Sennacherib returned, was murdered;

2b) Isa 38:1-22 {sx3} Hezekiah’s sickness + prayer/ Isaiah’s word of healing/ Hezekiah’s song;

2a) Isa 39:1-8 {s+p} The arrival of the friendly Babylonian envoy/ his gifts.