And 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth.
- BSB to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- NKJV And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.
- NASB And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
- NLT They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hezekiah's officials bring word that Judah faces a crisis as dire as a labor that has no strength to deliver. It shows a king who, in distress, turns to God's prophet rather than to his own resources.
Overview
With Assyria threatening Jerusalem, Hezekiah sends his servants to Isaiah confessing utter helplessness. The vivid image of children come to birth with no strength to deliver portrays a nation at the brink, unable to save itself. This honesty about weakness sets the stage for God to act, illustrating the gospel pattern that God's deliverance meets human need precisely where human strength fails.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 66:9Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
- Hos 13:13The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
- Isa 26:17–18Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
- Ps 50:15And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
- 2 Kgs 19:3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
- Isa 33:2O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
- 2 Chr 15:4But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
- Ps 91:15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
- Ps 95:8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Hos 5:15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
- Isa 22:5For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
- Ps 116:3–4The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Jer 30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
- Isa 25:8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 37:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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