Isaiah 37:23
ESV
"‘Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
NIV
Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
NASB
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily raised your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!
CSB
Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
NLT
'Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel!
KJV
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
NKJV
“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
What does Isaiah 37:23 mean?
One of the things Hezekiah asked of the Lord was for Him to take note of Sennacherib's insults (Isaiah 37:10–12, 17). Through Isaiah, the Lord confirms that He sees and hears all the Assyrian king's arrogance. While Assyria threatened Jerusalem with a massive army (Isaiah 36:12–15), God replies with the image of a little girl openly mocking the Assyrian king (Isaiah 37:22).The phrasing here is rhetorical: it uses the form of a question but is understood to be a firm statement. The Lord asks the king of the Assyrians who he thinks he has been mocking and insulting. He challenges Sennacherib to think about whom he has been yelling at and lifting his eyes toward in a gesture of haughty superiority. Sennacherib would likely say he has been sneering at the tiny nation of Judah (Isaiah 36:9). He would think of their God as no better than the idols of other defeated nations.
But Assyria is insulting the One True God: the Holy One of Israel (Exodus 3:14–15; Psalm 89:18; Isaiah 5:19). He's faced imaginary idols before, but now he confronts the living Creator (Genesis 1:1). If the prior verse suggested a small child laughing at a bully, this verse might depict the child's massive, powerful father suddenly appearing on the scene.
