Isaiah 36

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

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took 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, with a great army, against King Hezekiah, and he halted at the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the highway to the fuller'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 to him Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Josh, the son of Asaph, the annalist.

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 to them, Say ye to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What a confidence is this which thou cherishest!

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?

Thou sayest, (but it is vain talk, ) “I have counsel and strength for war.” In whom, then, dost thou trust, that thou rebellest 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 trustest in that broken reed-staff, Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will pierce his hand, and go through it. Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all that trust in 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 ye say to me, “We trust in Jehovah, our God,”—is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship before this altar?

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!

Engage, now, with my master, the king of Assyria! and I will give thee two thousand horses, when thou art able to provide for thyself riders for 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, canst thou resist a single captain, one of the least of the servants of my master? Yet thou trustest in Egypt, on account of her chariots and her 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 am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah hath said to 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 Eliakim and Shebna and Josh to Rabshakeh: Speak, we beseech thee, to thy servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jewish language, in the hearing of the people that are upon 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 sent me to speak these words to thy master and to thee only, and not to the people who sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to 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 Rabshakeh stood and cried with 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 saith 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.’

And let not Hezekiah persuade you to trust in Jehovah, saying, “Jehovah will certainly deliver us. This city shall not be delivered into the hands 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 saith the king of Assyria: Make peace with me, and come out to me; and ye shall every one eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig-tree, and ye shall every one drink the waters of his own 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 to a land like your own land; a land of corn, and of new wine, a land of bread and of 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?

Be not persuaded by Hezekiah, when he saith, “Jehovah will deliver us.” Have the gods of the nations delivered every one his own land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arphad?

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 Sepharvaim? And did the gods deliver Samaria from 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 is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath delivered his land out of my hand, that Jehovah 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 the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's command was, “Answer him not.”

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 Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the annalist, to Hezekiah, with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.