Isaiah 36
36
Two Kings
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, # 36:1 This would be approximately 701 BC. Hezekiah means “strengthened of Yah,” “captured by Yah,” “Yah has made firm,” or “power of Yah.” The prophets who lived during his reign included Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea. Hezekiah ascended Judah’s throne at the age of twenty-five and reigned a total of twenty-nine years. He was considered to be a godly king and released the greatest period of restoration in Israel’s history. He repaired the doors of the temple, cleansed it, and made atonement for the altar. He consecrated the priesthood, ordered the observance of the Feast of Passover, and removed idolatry from the land. He supported the priesthood through tithes and offerings, and the nation prospered. He was buried with great honor in the sepulchers of the sons of David. See 2 Kings 18–20; 2 Chron. 29–32. Sennacherib, # 36:1 Sennacherib means “the thorn laid waste.” king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them. 2After defeating Lachish, Sennacherib sent his chief commander # 36:2 Or “Rabshakeh,” a possible title of a military official. with his massive army from there to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. He took up a position on the road to the Washerman’s Field, # 36:2 Or “Fuller’s Field,” where cloth was washed and bleached. In Mark 9:3, the Greek text uses the phrase “whiter than any fuller can make them.” See also Isa. 7:3; Mal. 3:1–3. at the end of the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool. # 36:2 This was possibly Hezekiah’s “tunnel.” 3And coming out to meet him were three officials of the king: Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna, the scribe; and Joah, son of Asaph, the secretary.
4Sennacherib’s commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, this is what the exalted king, the king of Assyria, says: ‘What makes you so confident? 5You think you have a strategy and defensive might, but mere words are no match for my army! In whom are you trusting for help that you rebel against me? 6I know—you are relying on Egypt, that broken staff full of splinters. If anyone leans on it, it will pierce his hand. Pharaoh himself, king of Egypt, is like that splintered staff to those who put their trust in him! But you tell me that you are trusting in Yahweh, your God. For Hezekiah went around destroying every sacred altar from the land. Didn’t he insist that Judah and Jerusalem had to worship only at this altar in your temple? 8Now it’s time to make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you’re able to come up with as many men to ride them. 9You’re no match against even one officer of the least of my master’s officials! Why put your confidence in Egypt’s chariots and horsemen? 10What’s more, do you really think I’ve marched against this land to destroy it on my own without Yahweh’s approval?’ ”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah replied, “Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew, for the people on the wall are listening to us, and they will overhear our conversation.”
12But the commander answered them, “Do you think I came to deliver this message from my master only to you and your king? It is also meant for the men sitting there on the wall to hear! They are the ones who will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine!”
13So the commander stood and shouted out in a loud voice in Hebrew to the men listening on the wall, “Hear the words of the great King Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, 14for he has sent me with these words: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for there is nothing he can do to save you. 15Don’t be deceived when he tries to persuade you to trust in Yahweh, saying to you, “Yahweh will come to our rescue and our city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 16Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says to you, “Make your peace with me and surrender so that you may continue to eat from your own grapes and figs and drink the water from your own cisterns 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own. It is a good land of grain and wine, bread and vineyards.” 18Don’t be deceived by Hezekiah’s empty words when he says to you, “Yahweh will save us.” Has any god ever saved a nation from the mighty hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where were the gods of Hamath # 36:19 This is modern Hama, a city of west-central Syria. and Arphad? # 36:19 Or “Arpad,” an ancient city of northwestern Syria. Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god save your northern kingdom of Samaria from me? 20Where is there a god that could save its people from my mighty hand?’ ”
21But they were silent, and no one answered him a word, for King Hezekiah had ordered them, “Do not answer him.”
22So the three officials of Hezekiah—Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna, the scribe; and Joah, son of Asaph the secretary—came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn as a sign of despair and reported what the Assyrian commander had said.
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Isaiah 36: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationIsaiah 36
36
The Assyrians Surround Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18.13-27; 2 Chronicles 32.1-19)
1Hezekiah had been king of Judah for 14 years when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city 2except Jerusalem. The Assyrian king ordered his army commander to leave the city of Lachish and to take a large army to Jerusalem.
The commander went there and stood on the road near the cloth makers' shops along the canal from the upper pool. 3Three of the king's highest officials came out of Jerusalem to meet him. One of them was Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.
4The Assyrian commander told them:
I have a message for Hezekiah from the great king of Assyria. Ask Hezekiah why he feels so sure of himself. 5Does he think he can plan and win a war with nothing but words? Who is going to help him, now that he has turned against the king of Assyria? 6#Ez 29.6,7. Is he depending on Egypt and its king? That's the same as leaning on a broken stick, and it will go right through his hand.
7Is Hezekiah now depending on the Lord, your God? Didn't Hezekiah tear down all except one of the Lord's altars and places of worship?#36.7 worship: Hezekiah actually had torn down the places where idols were worshiped, and he had told the people to worship the Lord at the one place of worship in Jerusalem. But the Assyrian leader was confused and thought these were also places where the Lord was supposed to be worshiped. Didn't he tell the people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship at that one place?
8The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people! He will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. 9How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? 10Don't forget that it was the Lord who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation!
11Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, “Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.”
12The Assyrian army commander answered, “My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you!”
13Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted out in Hebrew:
Listen to what the great king of Assyria says! 14Don't be fooled by Hezekiah. He can't save you. 15Don't trust him when he tells you that the Lord will protect you from the king of Assyria. 16Stop listening to Hezekiah. Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns 17for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards and raise your own grain.
18Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him. Were any other gods able to defend their land against the king of Assyria? 19What happened to the gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim? Were the gods of Samaria able to protect their land against the Assyrian forces? 20None of those gods kept their people safe from the king of Assyria. Do you think the Lord, your God, can do any better?
21-22Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah had been warned by King Hezekiah not to answer the Assyrian commander. So they tore their clothes in sorrow and reported to Hezekiah everything the commander had said.
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