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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Isaiah 36: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib’s Invasion
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,#2Kg 18:13,17–37; 2Ch 32:1–16,18 King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish#Jos 15:20,39 to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to Launderer’s Field.#Is 7:3 3Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,#Is 22:15,20–21 and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4The royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? 5You#36:5 Many Hb mss, DSS, 2Kg 18:20; MT reads I think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?#2Kg 18:7 6Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff#Ezk 29:6–7 that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.#Is 30:3–7 7Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?#Dt 12:2–5; 2Kg 18:4–5
8“Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! 9How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?#Is 20:5; 30:2–5,7; 31:3 10Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,#Ezr 4:7; Dn 2:4 since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew#36:11 Lit Judahite, also in v. 13 within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
12But the royal spokesman replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
13Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:
Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you,#Is 37:10 for he cannot rescue you. 15Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”
16Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace#36:16 Lit a blessing with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree#1Kg 4:25; Mc 4:4; Zch 3:10 and drink water from his own cistern 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land — a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’#Is 37:10 Has any one of the gods of the nations#1Ch 5:25; Is 37:12 rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?#Is 10:9–11; 37:11–13; Jr 49:23 Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?#2Kg 17:6 20Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?”
21But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”#Pr 26:4 22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.
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