Isaiah 36
36
1And it cometh to pass, in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, come up hath Sennacherib king of Asshur against all the fenced cities of Judah, and seizeth them.
2And the king of Asshur sendeth Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, unto the king Hezekiah, with a heavy force, and he standeth by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field,
3and go forth unto him doth Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer.
4And Rabshakeh saith unto them, ‘Say ye, I pray you, unto Hezekiah, ‘Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur, What [is] this confidence in which thou hast confided?
5I have said: Only, a word of the lips! counsel and might [are] for battle: now, on whom hast thou trusted, that thou hast rebelled against me?
6‘Lo, thou hast trusted on the staff of this broken reed — on Egypt — which a man leaneth on, and it hath gone into his hand, and pierced it — so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.
7‘And dost thou say unto me, Unto Jehovah our God we have trusted? is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath turned aside, and saith to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar ye do bow yourselves?
8‘And now, negotiate, I pray thee, with my lord the king of Asshur, and I give to thee two thousand horses, if thou art able to put for thee riders on them.
9And how dost thou turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, and dost trust for thee on Egypt, for chariot and for horsemen?
10And now, without Jehovah have I come up against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up unto this land, and thou hast destroyed it.’
11And Eliakim saith — and Shebna and Joah — unto Rabshakeh, ‘Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants [in] Aramaean, for we are understanding; and do not speak unto us [in] Jewish, in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall.’
12And Rabshakeh saith, ‘Unto thy lord, and unto thee, hath my lord sent me to speak these words? is it not for the men — those sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water with you?’
13And Rabshakeh standeth and calleth with a great voice [in] Jewish, and saith, ‘Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Asshur:
14Thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you;
15and let not Hezekiah make you trust unto Jehovah, saying, Jehovah doth certainly deliver us, this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.
16‘Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make ye with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,
17till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
18lest Hezekiah doth persuade you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. ‘Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?
19Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where the gods of Sepharvaim, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who among all the gods of these lands [are] they who have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’
21And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, ‘Do not answer him.’
22And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of Rabshakeh.
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Isaiah 36: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Isaiah 36
36
Assyria Invades Judah
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,#36:1 The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was 701 b.c. King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff#36:2a Or the rabshakeh; also in 36:4, 11, 12, 22. from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.#36:2b Or bleached.
3These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
4Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? 5Do you think#36:5 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also 2 Kgs 18:20); Masoretic Text reads Do I think. that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? 6On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
7“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
8“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! 9With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? 10What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,#36:11 Hebrew in the dialect of Judah; also in 36:13. for the people on the wall will hear.”
12But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
13Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 14This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. 15Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
16“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 17Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.
18“Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 19What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? 20What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
21But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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