Isaiah 37:17
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Hezekiah asks the Lord to attend to his prayer and to bear witness to Sennacherib's blasphemous words against Him.
Context
This continues Hezekiah's prayer. He is asking God to hear not just his intercession, but also to take note of the specific insults hurled by the Assyrian king in his taunting letters.
What Does Isaiah 37:17 Mean?
The prayer shifts now to a direct appeal for God''s attention. ''Incline thine ear, open thine eyes'' are anthropomorphic phrases, language that gives human form to God''s attentiveness. They are not literal descriptions of God''s body, but invitations for God to turn His awareness toward the matter at hand. In the ancient Near East, such language reflected the covenant relationship between a king and his people: when you have a complaint, you present it to the throne, and you ask the ruler to look directly at it.
What matters in this verse is that Hezekiah asks God not only to hear Hezekiah, but to hear Sennacherib''s words for what they are: ''reproach'' of ''the living God.'' The adjective ''living'' is crucial. In polytheistic Assyria and Egypt, gods were often thought to be distant, impotent, or dead. The ''living God'' is active, present, aware, and can respond. By naming what Sennacherib has done (mocking the living God), Hezekiah invites the Lord to vindicate His own name and character.
In the Original Language
incline (natah, נטה) -- 'to bend, turn toward'; suggests a deliberate act of divine attention, the bending of God's will toward a matter.
Application
Our prayers are heard when we bring our specific griefs before God and ask Him to look at them with us. We need not fear that God is inattentive or indifferent. When we name the wrong, we invite Him to set it right.