Isaiah 36

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

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, that 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.

Then did the king of Assyria send Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a heavy force, —and he took his stand by the upper channel of the pool, in the highway of 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.

And there went out to him—Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, —and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph 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, Pray you say unto Hezekiah, —Thus, saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this trust, wherewith thou dost trust?

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 [sayest thou] —they are only words of the lips—Counsel and might have I for the war, —Now, upon whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled 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.

Lo! thou dost trust on the support of this bruised cane, on Egypt, whereon if a man lean it will enter his hand and lay it open, —So, is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust upon 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 unto me, In Yahweh our God, do we trust, Then is that not he whose high places and whose altars, Hezekiah hath removed, and said unto Judah and unto Jerusalem, Before this altar, shall ye bow yourselves down?

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!

Now, therefore, pledge thyself I pray thee with my lord, the king of Assyria, —That I supply thee with two thousand horses, If thou on thy part be able 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 away the face of one pasha of the least of my lord’s servants? Or hast thou on thy part trusted upon 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.’”

But, now, is it, without Yahweh, that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh himself, said unto me, Go thou 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 Joah, unto Rabshakeh—Speak we pray thee unto thy servants in the Syrian language, for we, can, understand, it, —and do not speak unto us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people who 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—Is it unto thy lord and unto thee, that my lord hath sent me, to speak these things? Is it not concerning the men who are tarrying upon the wall, that they may eat and drink what cometh from them, with you?

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

So then Rabshakeh took his stand, and cried out with a loud voice, in the Jews’ 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 shall 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 cause you to trust in Yahweh saying, Yahweh, will certainly deliver, us, —this city shall not be given over, 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,

Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, —for, thus, saith the king of Assyria, Deal with me thankfully, and come out unto me, Then shall ye eat, Every one of his own vine and Every one of his own fig-tree, And drink every one 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, into A land like your own land, —A land of corn and new 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?

Lest Hezekiah, persuade you, saying, Yahweh will deliver us! Have the gods of the nations, delivered, —any one of them—his country, 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 Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? If indeed they had only 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, Yahweh, 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 held their peace, and answered him not a word, —for the command of the king, it was, saying, —Ye must 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 in—Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, unto Hezekiah, with rent clothes, —and they told him the words of Rabshakeh.