Isaiah 36

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of the reign of Ezekias, [that] Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians, came up against the strong cities of Judea, and took them.

2 Then the king of Assyria sent the chief commander from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great army. He approached the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the launderers' field, and stood by it.

And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces out of Laches to Jerusalem to king Ezekias with a large force: and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.

3 The Israelite officials who went out of the city to talk with them were Hilkiah's son Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna the king's secretary, and Asaph's son Joah, who wrote down the government decisions.

And there went forth to him Heliakim the steward, the [son] of Chelcias, and Somnas the scribe, and Joach the [son] of Asaph, the recorder.

4 The chief commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that the great king, the king of Assyria, says, 'What is the source of your confidence?

And Rabsaces said to them, Say to Ezekias, Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians, Why are you secure?

5 You speak only useless words, saying there is counsel and strength for war. Now in whom are you trusting? Who has given you courage to rebel against me?

Is war carried on with counsel and [mere] words of the lips? and now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

6 Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed that you use as a walking staff, but if a man leans on it, it will stick into his hand and pierce it. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to anyone who trusts in him.

Behold, you trust on this bruised staff of reed, on Egypt: [as soon] as a man leans upon it, it shall go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharao king of Egypt and all that trust in him.

7 But if you say to me, “We are trusting in Yahweh our God,” is not he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

But if you say, We trust in the Lord our God;

8 Now therefore, I want to make you a good offer from my master the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to find riders for them.

yet now make an agreement with my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you shall be able to set riders upon them.

9 How could you resist even one captain of the least of my master's servants? You have put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen!

And how can you [then] turn to the face of the satraps? They that trust on the Egyptians for horse and rider, are [our] servants.

10 Now then, have I traveled up here without Yahweh to fight against this land and destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Attack this land and destroy it.”'”

And now, Have we come up against this land to fight against it without the Lord? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah said to the chief commander, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramean language, Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in the language of Judah in the ears of the people who are on the wall.”

Then Eliakim and Somnas and Joach said to him, Speak to your servants in the Syrian tongue; for we understand [it]: and speak not to us in the Jewish tongue: and therefore speak you in the ears of the men on the wall?

12 But the chief commander said, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

And Rabsaces said to them, Has my lord sent me to your lord or to you, to speak these words? [has he] not [sent] me to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat dung, and drink [their] water together with you?

13 Then the chief commander stood and shouted in a loud voice in the Jews' language, saying, “Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

And Rabsaces stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, and said, Hear you the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians:

14 The king says, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to rescue you.

thus says the king, Let not Ezekias deceive you with words: he will not be able to deliver you.

15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely rescue us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”'

And let not Ezekias say to you, That God will deliver you, and this city will not at all be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

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 from his own fig tree, and drink from the water in his own cistern.

Listen not to Ezekias: thus says the king of the Assyrians, If you wish to be blessed, come out to me: and you shall eat every one [of] his vine and his fig-trees, and you shall drink water out of your own cisterns:

17 You will do this until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, 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 wine, and bread, and vineyards.

18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you, saying, 'Yahweh will rescue us.' Has any of the gods of the peoples rescued them from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Let not Ezekias deceive you, saying, God will deliver you. Have the gods of the nations delivered each one his own land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

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

Where is the god of Emath, and Arphath? and where is the god of Eppharuaim? have they been able to deliver Samaria out of my hand?

20 Among all the gods of these lands, is there any god who has rescued his land from my power, as if Yahweh could save Jerusalem from my power?”

Which is the god of all these nations, that has delivered his land out of my hand, that God should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

21 But the people remained silent and did not respond, for the king's order was, “Do not answer him.”

And they were silent, and none answered him a word; because the king had commanded that none should answer.

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of the chief commander.

And Heliakim the [son] of Chelcias, the steward, and Somnas the military scribe, and Joach the [son] of Asaph, the recorder, came in to Ezekias, having their garments tore, and they reported to him the words of Rabsaces.