Isaiah 36
36
The Assyrians Invade Judah
1During Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked Judah. He attacked all the strong, walled cities of Judah and defeated them. 2The king of Assyria sent out his field commander. He went with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When the commander came near the waterway from the upper pool, he stopped. The upper pool is on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 3Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to meet him. Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager. Shebna was the royal assistant. And Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.
4The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this:
“‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says: You have nothing to trust in to help you. 5You say you have battle plans and power for war. But your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me? 6Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you. Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. If you lean on it for help, it will stab you and hurt you. The king of Egypt will hurt those who depend on him. 7You might say, “We are depending on the Lord our God.” But Hezekiah destroyed the Lord’s altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar.”
8“‘Now make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them. 9You cannot defeat one of my master’s least important officers. So why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and horsemen? 10I have not come to attack and destroy this country without an order from the Lord. The Lord himself told me to come to this country and 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 because the people on the city wall can hear you.”
12But the commander said, “No. My master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. My master sent me to tell them also to those people sitting on the wall. They will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you.”
13Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language. He said, “Listen to the words from the great king, the king of Assyria! 14The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you. Hezekiah can’t save you. 15Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord. Hezekiah says, ‘The Lord will surely save us. This city won’t be given over to the king of Assyria.’
16“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me. Come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree. Everyone will be free to drink water from his own well. 17Then I will come and take you to a land like your own. It is a land with grain and new wine. It has bread and vineyards.’
18“Don’t let Hezekiah fool you. He says, ‘The Lord will save us.’ The god of any other nation has not saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria. 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? They did not save Samaria from my power. 20Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Then the Lord cannot save Jerusalem from my power.”
21The people were silent. They didn’t answer the commander at all. This was because King Hezekiah had ordered, “Don’t answer him.”
22Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah tore their clothes to show how upset they were. (Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager. Shebna was the royal assistant. And Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.) The three men went to Hezekiah and told him what the field commander had said.
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Isaiah 36: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
1And this happened: In the fourteenth year#Literally “four ten year” of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh#Rabshekah is the title of a high Assyrian official from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the field of the washer. 3And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace,#Literally “was over the house” came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.
4And Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence in which you trust? 5I said, ‘Only a word of lips! War has power and a plan!’#The Hebrew here is awkward; literally “Plan and power for war” Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him. 7And if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down in the presence#Literally “face” of this altar.’ ” 8And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, that is, if you are able put#Literally “give” riders for yourself on them! 9But how can you drive back one governor among the least of my master’s servants,#Literally “the face of the governor of the one of the insignificant servants of my master” when#Or “and” you trust in Egypt for chariots#Hebrew “chariot” and horsemen? 10And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it!” ’ ”
11And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand#Or “hear” it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the hearing#Literally “ear” of the people who are on the wall.”
12But#Or “And” Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? Was it not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine#So Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) has “feet-water” with you?”
13Then#Or “And” Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you! 15And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, “Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!” 16You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make a blessing#That is, a gesture of surrender with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat from his vine and from his fig tree and drink water from#Or “of” his cistern, 17until I come#Literally “my coming” and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, 18lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, ‘Yahweh will save us!’ Did the gods of the nations each save his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20Who are there among all the gods of these countries who have saved their land from my hand, that Yahweh should save Jerusalem from my hand?” ’ ”
21But#Or “And” they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, “You must not answer him.” 22Then#Or “And” Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace,#Literally “house” Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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