Bible Strands
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Hezekiah’s messengers deliver his plea to the prophet Isaiah during a moment of national crisis when the Assyrian commander has publicly defied God. The request follows a declaration of Judah’s exhaustion and impending collapse.
The words — The Hebrew term אוּלַ֡י ('u.Lai) translates literally as "perhaps," marking a conditional hope rather than a guarantee. The verb יִשְׁמַע֩ (yish.Ma') means "he will hear," stating God’s attentive response to the specific blasphemies recorded.
The thread — The demand for prayer as a response to threat mirrors the intercessory pattern in Psalms 106:23, where standing in the breach diverts wrath. The concern for the surviving remnant continues the preservation theme established in Isaiah 1:9.
Why it lands — The text commands immediate prayer as the prescribed action when faced with external defiance and internal depletion. It requires the reader to act on behalf of the remaining faithful while acknowledging that outcome rests with God alone.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
- Psalms 106:23 So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.
- Isaiah 10:22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
- Joshua 14:12 Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day, for you yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps with the LORD’s help I will drive them out, as the LORD has spoken.”
- 1 Samuel 7:8 and said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
- 1 Samuel 12:19 They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”
- 1 Samuel 12:23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.
- 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
- 1 Samuel 17:26 David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”