Isaiah 36

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

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, 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 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 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.

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

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 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?

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, 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, 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 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 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, 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.

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 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!

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 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 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 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 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 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?”

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 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.

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

Thus saith the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for 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 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 from his own fig tree, and drink from the water in 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 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 of new wine, a land of bread and of 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?

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 rescued Samaria from my power?

Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And did the gods deliver Samaria from 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?”

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 respond, for the king's order was, “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 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.

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.