Isaiah 36

1 And it comes to pass, in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Asshur has come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and seizes them.

In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked and conquered all the fortified towns of Judah.

2 And the king of Asshur sends Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a heavy force, and he stands by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller’s field,

The king of Assyria sent his army general, along with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field.

3 and Eliakim son of Hilkiah goes forth to him, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer.

Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went out to speak with him.

4 And Rabshakeh says to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur: What [is] this confidence in which you have confided?

The Assyrian army general said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in that gives you such confidence?

5 I have said, Only a word of the lips! Counsel and might [are] for battle. Now, on whom have you trusted, that you have rebelled against me?

You say you have a strategy and are ready for war, but these are empty words. Who are you relying on, now that you have rebelled against me?

6 Behold, you have trusted on the staff of this broken reed—on Egypt—which a man leans on, and it has gone into his hand, and pierced it—so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

Now look! You're trusting in Egypt, a walking stick that's like a broken reed that will cut the hand of anyone leaning on it. That's what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is like to everyone who trusts in him.

7 And do you say to me, We have trusted in our God YHWH? Is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has turned aside, and says to Judah and to Jerusalem, Bow yourselves before this altar?

If you tell me, ‘We're trusting in the Lord our God,’ well didn't Hezekiah remove his high places and his altars, telling Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You have to worship at this altar in Jerusalem’?

8 And now, please negotiate with my lord the king of Asshur, and I give two thousand horses to you, if you are able to put riders on them for yourself.

Why don't you accept a challenge from my master, the king of Assyria? He says, I'll give you two thousand horses, if you can find enough riders for them!

9 And how do you turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, and trust on Egypt for yourself, for chariot and for horsemen?

How could you defeat even a single officer in charge of the weakest of my master's men when you're trusting in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

10 And now, without YHWH have I come up against this land to destroy it? YHWH said to me, Go up to this land, and you have destroyed it.”

More than that—would I have come to attack this place without the Lord's encouragement? It was the Lord himself who told me, ‘Go and attack this land and destroy it.’”

11 And Eliakim says—and Shebna and Joah—to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants [in] Aramaic, for we are understanding; and do not speak to us [in] Jewish, in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall.”

Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah, said to the army general, “Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.”

12 And Rabshakeh says, “To your lord, and to you, has 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?”

But the army general replied, “Did my master only send me to say these things to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall? They too, just like you, are going to have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine!”

13 And Rabshakeh stands and calls with a great voice [in] Jewish, and says, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Asshur—

Then the army general shouted out in Hebrew, “Listen to this from the great king, the king of Assyria!

14 thus said the king: Do not let Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you;

This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah trick you! He can't save you!

15 and do not let Hezekiah make you trust to YHWH, saying, YHWH certainly delivers us, this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

Don't believe Hezekiah when he tells you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘I'm certain the Lord will save us. This city will never fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.’

16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur: Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and each of you eat of his vine, and each of his fig tree, and each drink the waters of his own well,

Don't listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king says: Make a peace treaty with me and surrender to me. That way everyone will eat from their own vine and their own fig tree, and drink water from their own well!

17 until my coming in, and I have taken you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;

I will come and take you to a land that's like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 lest Hezekiah persuades you, saying, YHWH delivers us. Have the gods of the nations each delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?

But don't let Hezekiah trick you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have any of the gods of any nation ever saved their land from the power of the king of Assyria?

19 Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? Were they able to save Samaria from me?

20 Who among all the gods of these lands [are] they who have delivered their land out of my hand, that YHWH delivers Jerusalem out of my hand?”

Which one of all the gods of these countries has saved their land from me? How then could the Lord save Jerusalem from me?”

21 And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, “Do not answer him.”

But the people remained silent and didn't say anything, for Hezekiah had given the order, “Don't answer him.”

22 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, comes in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the remembrancer, to Hezekiah, with torn garments, and they declare to him the words of Rabshakeh.

Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they told him what the Assyrian army general had said.