Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18:13–37; 2 Chronicles 32:1–8)
1In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh,#36:2 Hebrew Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer; here and throughout chapters 36 and 37, as well as 2 Kings 18 and 19 with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.
3Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
4The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? 5You claim to have #36:5 Literally You speak; see DSS and 2 Kings 18:20; MT I speak. a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
6Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
8Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 9For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10So now, was it apart from the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew #36:11 Or in the dialect of Judah; also in verse 13 in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you. 15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
16Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me #36:16 Or Make a blessing with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
22Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
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Isaiah 36: BSB
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.
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.