Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib’s Invasion
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, # 2Kg 18:13,17-37; 2Ch 32:1-16,18 Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, 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 the Fuller’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 Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? # Lit What is this trust that you trust 5I # DSS read You say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me? # 2Kg 18:7 6Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff # Ezk 29:6-7 that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him. # Is 30:3-7 7Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in 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
8Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! 9How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in 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 Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, # Ezr 4:7; Dn 2:4 since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew # Lit Judahite within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”
12But the Rabshakeh 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 Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: # Lit Judahite
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 deliver you. 15Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly deliver 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 # 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 deliver us.’ # Is 37:10 Has any one of the gods of the nations # 1Ch 5:25; Is 37:12 delivered 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 delivered Samaria from my power? # 2Kg 17:6 20Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the Lord deliver Jerusalem.”
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 Rabshakeh.
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Isaiah 36: HCSB
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Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib Invades Judah
1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,#tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2. King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser#sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30. from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem,#map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4. along with a large army. The chief adviser#tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity. stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.#tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV). 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.
4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence?#tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?” 5 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk.#tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? 6 Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him! 7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’ 8 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.#tn Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?” In vv. 8-9 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 6. His reasoning seems to be as follows: “In your weakened condition you obviously need military strength. Agree to the king’s terms and I will personally give you more horses than you are capable of outfitting. If I, a mere minor official, am capable of giving you such military might, just think what power the king has. There is no way the Egyptians can match our strength. It makes much better sense to deal with us.” 10 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’”’”#sn In v. 10 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 7. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissioned Assyria as his instrument of discipline and judgment.
11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic,#sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire. for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect#tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.” in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you.#tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!”#tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.
13 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,#tn The Hebrew text includes “and he said.” “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.#tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.” Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?#tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!” 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?#tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.” Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria#map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1. from my power?#tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20). 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”#tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them? 21 They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
22 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief#tn Heb “with their clothes torn”; the words “in grief” have been supplied in the translation to indicate that this was done as a sign of grief and mourning. and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
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