Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib Warns Jerusalem
1Sennacherib attacked and captured all the cities of Judah that had high walls around them. It was in the 14th year of the rule of Hezekiah. Sennacherib was king of Assyria. 2He sent his field commander from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He sent him along with a large army. The commander stopped at the channel that brings water from the Upper Pool. It was on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 3Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to him. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, was in charge of the palace. Shebna was the secretary. Joah, the son of Asaph, kept the records.
4The field commander said to them, “Give Hezekiah this message. Tell him,
“ ‘Sennacherib is the great king of Assyria. He says, “Why are you putting your faith in what your king says? 5You say you have a military plan. You say you have a strong army. But your words don’t mean anything. Who are you depending on? Why don’t you want to stay under my control? 6Look, I know you are depending on Egypt. Why are you doing that? Egypt is nothing but a broken papyrus stem. Try leaning on it. It will only cut your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who depends on him. 7But suppose you say to me, ‘We are depending on the Lord our God.’ Didn’t Hezekiah remove your god’s high places and altars? Didn’t Hezekiah say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at the altar in Jerusalem’?
8“ ‘ “Come on. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses. But only if you can put riders on them! 9You are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. You can’t drive away even the least important officer among my master’s officials. 10Besides, do you think I’ve come without being sent by the Lord? Have I come to attack and destroy this land without receiving a message from him? The Lord himself told me to march out against your country. He told me to destroy it.” ’ ”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah spoke to the field commander. They said, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew. If you do, the people on the wall will be able to understand you.”
12But the commander replied, “My master sent me to say these things. Are these words only for your master and you to hear? Aren’t they also for the people sitting on the wall? They are going to suffer just like you. They’ll have to eat their own waste. They’ll have to drink their own urine.”
13Then the commander stood up and spoke in the Hebrew language. He called out, “Pay attention to what the great king of Assyria is telling you. 14He says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah trick you. He can’t save you! 15Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says, “You can be sure that the Lord will save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ’
16“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make a peace treaty with me. Come over to my side. Then each one of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree. Each one of you will drink water from your own well. 17You will do that until I come back. Then I’ll take you to a land just like yours. It’s a land that has a lot of grain and fresh wine. It has plenty of bread and vineyards.
18“ ‘Don’t let Hezekiah fool you. He’s telling you a lie when he says, “The Lord will save us.” Have the gods of any nations ever saved their lands from the power of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they saved Samaria from my power? 20Which one of all the gods of those countries has been able to save their lands from me? So how can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power?’ ”
21But the people remained silent. They didn’t say anything. That’s because King Hezekiah had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”
22Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, went to Hezekiah. Eliakim was in charge of the palace. Shebna the secretary went with him. So did Joah, the son of Asaph. Joah kept the records. All of them went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him what the field commander had said.
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Isaiah 36: NIrV
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Isaiah 36
36
XXXVI
1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the high-way of the fuller’s field. 3Then came forth unto him Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4And Rabshakeh said unto them: Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5I say, sayest thou, (but they are vain words) there is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 6Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man lean, it will pierce his hand, and go through it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7But if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God: is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, 8Ye shall worship before this altar? Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria; and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah hath said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
11Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh: Speak, we beseech thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it; and speak not unto us in the Jewish language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall. 12But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own filth, and drink their own urine with you?
13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said: Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus saith the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you. 15And let not Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah; saying, Jehovah will certainly deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16Hearken not unto Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make peace with me and come out unto me. And eat ye every one of his own vine, and every one of his own fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; 17until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and of vineyards. 18Let not Hezekiah seduce you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered, each his own land, from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their own lands out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's command was, saying, Answer him not.
22Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.