Isaiah 37 17

Isaiah 37:17 kjv

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.

Isaiah 37:17 nkjv

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

Isaiah 37:17 niv

Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

Isaiah 37:17 esv

Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Isaiah 37:17 nlt

Bend down, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God.

Isaiah 37 verses

Isaiah 37 17 Meaning

King Hezekiah, facing a dire threat from Sennacherib of Assyria, humbly petitions the Lord to pay close and personal attention to the blasphemous messages sent by the Assyrian king. Hezekiah appeals to God's sensory perception – to hear and to see – not because God lacks these abilities, but as an urgent plea for divine intervention and active engagement. The heart of the petition is for God to directly address the taunts that "reproach the living God," recognizing that the attack is ultimately against God Himself, not just His people.

Isaiah 37 17 Context

Isaiah 37:17 is a pivotal verse within King Hezekiah's desperate prayer (verses 15-20), offered in the Temple of Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege. The Assyrian king Sennacherib had dispatched Rabshakeh with an intimidating message, full of boasts, threats, and direct blasphemy against the Lord, challenging His ability to protect Jerusalem, much like the gods of other conquered nations failed. Sennacherib also sent a personal letter to Hezekiah containing similar taunts. Hezekiah spread this letter before the Lord, seeking divine intervention. The historical context is around 701 BCE, a period of Assyrian dominance where their policy was to crush all local deities, asserting their own god Ashur's supremacy. Hezekiah's prayer, therefore, isn't just about his personal or national survival; it's a fervent appeal for the vindication of God's holy name against the hubris of a pagan king who directly challenges the power of YHWH, the "living God."

Isaiah 37 17 Word analysis

• Incline Your ear (הַט־אָזְנְךָ – hat-’oznekha): From the Hebrew verb natah (נָטָה), meaning "to stretch out, turn, extend." It's an anthropomorphic plea, urging God to bend down and give careful, attentive audience. It implies a desire for personal, intimate, and active listening, beyond mere intellectual knowledge of the situation.
• O Lord (יְהוָה – YHWH): The covenant name of God, revealing His personal and relational identity to Israel. By addressing Him by this name, Hezekiah invokes God's faithfulness to His covenant promises and His people. It distinguishes Him from the generic "gods" of the nations.
• and hear (וּשְׁמָע – u’shma): From shama (שָׁמַע), meaning "to hear, listen, obey." This word, paired with "incline Your ear," intensifies the plea, asking not just for casual hearing, but for understanding, acknowledgment, and ultimately, action.
• open Your eyes (פְקַח עֵינֶיךָ – peqah ‘einekha): From the Hebrew verb paqah (פָּקַח), meaning "to open." Similar to "incline Your ear," it's an anthropomorphism, urging God to actively observe and perceive the gravity of the situation, especially the insolence of the enemy. It is a request for God's personal attention and watchful awareness.
• O Lord (יְהוָה – YHWH): Repetition emphasizes the urgency and directness of the appeal to the covenant God.
• and see (וּרְאֵה – u’re'eh): From ra'ah (רָאָה), meaning "to see, look, perceive." Paired with "open Your eyes," it completes the request for comprehensive, discerning divine observation, understanding the true nature and implications of Sennacherib's actions.
• and listen to all the words of Sennacherib (וּשְׁמַע אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵי סַנְחֵרִיב – u’shma et-kol-divrei Sankheriv): A specific emphasis on the content of the enemy's message. Hezekiah wants God to thoroughly take in every boast and blasphemy. It’s an appeal to divine justice.
• which he has sent to reproach (אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח לְחָרֵף – ’asher shalah l’ḥaref): L'ḥaref (לְחָרֵף) is from haref (חָרַף), meaning "to scorn, revile, insult, blaspheme, treat with contempt." This is a strong, definitive word indicating that Sennacherib’s words are not merely political threats, but a direct attack on God's honor and dignity. This is the crucial point for Hezekiah's plea.
• the living God (אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים – Elohim Ḥayyim): This foundational theological title contrasts YHWH with the lifeless, powerless idols of the nations that Assyria had conquered. It asserts God's active, dynamic, present, and potent existence, His ability to act and deliver. Sennacherib reproached not merely a god, but the Living God who demonstrates His existence through action.

Words-Group Analysis:

• "Incline Your ear... and hear; open Your eyes... and see": This double parallel plea underscores Hezekiah's complete dependency and his deep conviction that God’s attention precedes His intervention. It highlights a deeply personal, almost desperate appeal for God to actively engage His senses in a way that reflects human comprehension of attentive focus.
• "listen to all the words of Sennacherib... to reproach the living God": This phrase succinctly states the offense and the offended. It's not a generic prayer for deliverance, but a specific plea against direct blasphemy. Hezekiah frames the conflict not as a battle between Judah and Assyria, but as a challenge to God’s own sovereignty and reputation. The emphasis is on all the words, indicating the full weight of the insult.
• "reproach the living God": This is the theological core of the verse. It transforms a political-military crisis into a divine judgment issue. The enemy's words are an affront to the very essence of YHWH – His life, power, and holiness. This makes God, not Hezekiah, the primary party being insulted, ensuring God's active response for His own name's sake.

Isaiah 37 17 Bonus section

• Hezekiah's act of spreading Sennacherib's letter before the Lord (Isa 37:14) is a visual, physical representation of his complete surrender and transfer of the burden to God. It shows that he had done all he could humanly, and now the battle was the Lord's.
• The effectiveness of Hezekiah's prayer lies in its God-centeredness. He doesn't offer solutions or strategies; he simply lays out the affront to God and trusts in God's nature and ability to respond. This is a model of dependent prayer that resonates throughout scripture.
• The prophetic context (through Isaiah) reinforces that God hears and responds. Immediately following this prayer, Isaiah brings God's assurance of deliverance, demonstrating the direct and immediate impact of Hezekiah's faith.
• The "living God" motif continues to be vital in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 14:15, Heb 3:12, Heb 9:14), emphasizing that God is not a philosophical concept but an active, life-giving, and life-sustaining presence in the lives of believers, actively engaged with His creation.

Isaiah 37 17 Commentary

Hezekiah's prayer in Isaiah 37:17 is a profound demonstration of faith and astute theological insight in the face of overwhelming adversity. He does not plead solely on the basis of Judah's suffering or his own need for deliverance, but on the reproach hurled against the living God. This elevates the crisis from a mere geopolitical conflict to a cosmic struggle for divine honor.

By imploring God to "incline Your ear and hear," and "open Your eyes and see," Hezekiah employs anthropomorphisms not to suggest God is deaf or blind, but to passionately urge divine attention and action. He understands that God is fully aware of all things, but his prayer is a rhetorical device, a heartfelt appeal to God's covenant faithfulness and His zeal for His own glory. It's an invitation for God to become the direct participant and vindicator in a conflict where His name is directly slandered.

The phrase "the living God" is central. In an ancient world filled with inert, idol gods, Hezekiah directly challenges Sennacherib’s pagan worldview. He appeals to a God who is active, potent, and dynamically involved in creation and human history, unlike the powerless deities of other nations. The reproach against YHWH, therefore, is an attack on His very nature and distinction. Hezekiah understands that God cannot allow such blasphemy to stand unanswered without compromising His own integrity and demonstrating His power to those who would scorn Him. This prayer provides a model for how believers should frame their petitions when facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles: not focusing on the size of the problem, but on the honor and capability of their God.