Isaiah 36

1 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.

And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and seized on them.

2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a strong army. And he halted by the aqueduct of the upper pool on the highway of the washer's field.

3 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

Then came forth unto him Elyakim, the son of Chilkiyahu, who was superintendent over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Yoach the son of Assaph, the recorder.

4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?

And Rabshakeh said unto them, —Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus hath said the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherewith thou hast trusted?

5 You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?

I have said, but it was only a word uttered with the lips, [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now, on whom didst thou trust, that thou rebelledst against me?

6 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Behold, thou trustedst on yon cracked reed-staff, on Egypt; which, if a man lean on it, will enter into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh the king of Egypt to all that trust on him.

7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?

But if thou shouldst say to me, In the Lord our God have we trusted: is he not the one whose high-places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed, when he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar shall ye prostrate yourselves?

8 Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

And now I pray thee, enter into a contest with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

9 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

How then wilt thou turn back the face of a single chieftain of the least of my masters' servants, while thou hast put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

And now am I come up without the Lord ['s will] against this land to destroy it? The Lord hath said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

Then said Elyakim and Shebna and Yoach unto Rabshakeh, Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jewish language, before the ears of the people that are on the wall.

12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master then sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? is it not rather to the men who sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own excrements, and drink their own urine with you?

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

Then stood Rabshakeh up, and called out in a loud voice in the Jewish language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.

Thus hath said the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you;

15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

Neither let Hezekiah induce you to trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given up into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,

Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus hath said the king of Assyria, Make a treaty of peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern;

17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

So that Hezekiah may not mislead you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

Where are the gods of Chamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvayim? and have they then delivered Samaria out of my hand?

20 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

Who are they among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

21 But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

But they remained silent, and answered him not a word; for it was the king's command, saying, Ye shall not answer him.

22 Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Then came Elyakim the son of Chilkiyahu, that was superintendent over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Yoach the son of Assaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent; and they told him the words of Rabshakeh.