Isaiah 36
36
CHAPTER 36
1And it was done in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyrians, ascended [or went up] on all the strong cities of Judah, and took them.
2And the king of Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah, with great power; and he stood at the water conduit of the higher cistern, in the way of the field of a fuller, or tucker.
3And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house, went out to him, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the chancellor.
4And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is the trust, in which thou trustest?
5either by what counsel either strength disposest thou for to rebel? on whom hast thou trust, for thou hast gone away from me?
6Lo! thou trustest on this broken staff of reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leaneth, either resteth, it shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it; so doeth Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.
7That if thou answerest to me, We trust in our Lord God [or in the Lord our God]; whether it is not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah did away, and he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8And now betake thee to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to thee two thousand horses, and thou mayest not give of thee riders of those horses.
9And how shalt thou abide the face of the judge of one place of the less servants of my lord? That if thou trustest in Egypt, and in carts, and in knights;
10and now whether I ascended [or went up] to this land without the Lord, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou [or Go up] on this land, and destroy thou it.
11And Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak thou to thy servants by the language of Syria, for we understand; speak thou not to us by the language of Jews, in the ears of the people, which is on the wall.
12And Rabshakeh said to them, Whether my lord sent me to thy lord, and to thee, that I should speak all these words, and not rather to the men that sit on the wall, that they eat their turds, and drink the piss off their feet, with you?
13And Rabshakeh stood, and cried with [a] great voice in the language of Jews, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyrians.
14The king saith these things, Hezekiah deceive not you, for he may not deliver you;
15and Hezekiah give not to you trust on the Lord, and say, The Lord delivering shall deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyrians.
16Do not ye hear Hezekiah. For why the king of Assyrians saith these things, Make ye blessing with me, and go ye out to me; and eat ye each man his vinery [or his vine], and each man his fig tree, and drink ye each man the water of his cistern,
17till I come, and take away you to a land which is as your land; to a land of wheat and of wine, to a land of loaves and of vineries [or vines].
18Hezekiah trouble not you, and say, The Lord shall deliver us. Whether the gods of folks delivered each his land from the hand of the king of Assyrians?
19Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arphad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? Whether they delivered Samaria from mine hand?
20Who is of all [the] gods of these lands, that delivered his land from mine hand, that the Lord deliver Jerusalem from mine hand?
21And they were still, and answered not to him a word. For why the king commanded to them, and said, Answer ye not to him.
22And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, chancellor, entered with rent clothes to Hezekiah, and told to him the words of Rabshakeh.
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Isaiah 36: WBMS
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Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017
Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015
Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015
Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011
Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010
Isaiah 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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