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
The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem
(2 Kgs 18.13–27; 2 Chr 32.1–19)
1In the fourteenth year that Hezekiah was king of Judah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then he ordered his chief official to go from Lachish to Jerusalem with a large military force to demand that King Hezekiah should surrender. The official occupied the road where the clothmakers work, by the ditch that brings water from the upper pond. 3Three Judeans came out to meet him: the official in charge of the palace, Eliakim son of Hilkiah; the court secretary, Shebna; and the official in charge of the records, Joah son of Asaph. 4The Assyrian official told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident. 5He demanded, “Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria? 6#Ezek 29.6–7You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick — it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him.”
7The Assyrian official went on, “Or will you tell me that you are relying on the LORD your God? It was the LORD's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship at one altar only. 8I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many riders. 9You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry. 10Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the LORD's help? The LORD himself told me to attack it and destroy it.”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the official, “Speak Aramaic to us. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening.”
12He replied, “Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will.”
13Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, “Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you. 14He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you. 15And don't let him persuade you to rely on the LORD. Don't think that the LORD will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city. 16Don't listen to Hezekiah! The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells — 17until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is corn for making bread. 18Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the LORD will rescue you. Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria? 19Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did anyone save Samaria? 20When did any of the gods of all these countries ever save their country from our emperor? Then what makes you think the LORD can save Jerusalem?”
21The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word. 22Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes in grief and went and reported to the king what the Assyrian official had said.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.