Isaiah 36
36
It’s Their Fate That’s at Stake
1-3In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria made war on all the fortress cities of Judah and took them. Then the king of Assyria sent his general, the “Rabshekah,” accompanied by a huge army, from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. The general stopped at the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Three men went out to meet him: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, in charge of the palace; Shebna the secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the official historian.
4-7The Rabshekah said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that the Great King, the king of Assyria, says this: ‘What kind of backing do you think you have against me? You’re bluffing and I’m calling your bluff. Your words are no match for my weapons. What kind of backup do you have now that you’ve rebelled against me? Egypt? Don’t make me laugh. Egypt is a rubber crutch. Lean on Egypt and you’ll end up flat on your face. That’s all Pharaoh king of Egypt is to anyone who leans on him. And if you try to tell me, “We’re leaning on our God,” isn’t it a bit late? Hasn’t Hezekiah just gotten rid of all the places of worship, telling you, “You’ve got to worship at this altar”?
8-9“‘Be reasonable. Face the facts: My master the king of Assyria will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them. You can’t do it, can you? So how do you think, depending on flimsy Egypt’s chariots and riders, you can stand up against even the lowest-ranking captain in my master’s army?
10“‘And besides, do you think I came all this way to destroy this land without first getting God’s blessing? It was your God who told me, Make war on this land. Destroy it.’”
11Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah answered the Rabshekah, “Please talk to us in Aramaic. We understand Aramaic. Don’t talk to us in Hebrew within earshot of all the people gathered around.”
12But the Rabshekah replied, “Do you think my master has sent me to give this message to your master and you but not also to the people clustered here? It’s their fate that’s at stake. They’re the ones who are going to end up eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine.”
13-15Then the Rabshekah stood up and called out loudly in Hebrew, the common language, “Listen to the message of the Great King, the king of Assyria! Don’t listen to Hezekiah’s lies. He can’t save you. And don’t pay any attention to Hezekiah’s pious sermons telling you to lean on God, telling you ‘God will save us, depend on it. God won’t let this city fall to the king of Assyria.’
16-20“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Listen to the king of Assyria’s offer: ‘Make peace with me. Come and join me. Everyone will end up with a good life, with plenty of land and water, and eventually something far better. I’ll turn you loose in wide open spaces, with more than enough fertile and productive land for everyone.’ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you with his lies, ‘God will save us.’ Has that ever happened? Has any god in history ever gotten the best of the king of Assyria? Look around you. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? The gods of Sepharvaim? Did the gods do anything for Samaria? Name one god that has ever saved its countries from me. So what makes you think that God could save Jerusalem from me?’”
21The three men were silent. They said nothing, for the king had already commanded, “Don’t answer him.”
22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, tearing their clothes in defeat and despair, went back and reported what the Rabshekah had said to Hezekiah.
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Isaiah 36: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 36
36
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
1And this happened: In the fourteenth year#Literally “four ten year” of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh#Rabshekah is the title of a high Assyrian official from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the field of the washer. 3And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace,#Literally “was over the house” came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.
4And Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence in which you trust? 5I said, ‘Only a word of lips! War has power and a plan!’#The Hebrew here is awkward; literally “Plan and power for war” Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him. 7And if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ was it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down in the presence#Literally “face” of this altar.’ ” 8And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, that is, if you are able put#Literally “give” riders for yourself on them! 9But how can you drive back one governor among the least of my master’s servants,#Literally “the face of the governor of the one of the insignificant servants of my master” when#Or “and” you trust in Egypt for chariots#Hebrew “chariot” and horsemen? 10And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it!” ’ ”
11And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand#Or “hear” it, and you must not speak to us in Judean in the hearing#Literally “ear” of the people who are on the wall.”
12But#Or “And” Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? Was it not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine#So Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) has “feet-water” with you?”
13Then#Or “And” Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you! 15And do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, “Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!” 16You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make a blessing#That is, a gesture of surrender with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat from his vine and from his fig tree and drink water from#Or “of” his cistern, 17until I come#Literally “my coming” and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, 18lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, ‘Yahweh will save us!’ Did the gods of the nations each save his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20Who are there among all the gods of these countries who have saved their land from my hand, that Yahweh should save Jerusalem from my hand?” ’ ”
21But#Or “And” they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, “You must not answer him.” 22Then#Or “And” Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace,#Literally “house” Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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