Isaiæ 36
1 Et factum est in quartodecimo anno regis Ezechiae, ascendit Sennacherib rex Assyriorum super omnes civitates Iuda munitas, et cepit eas.
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
2 Et misit rex Assyriorum Rabsacen de Lachis in Ierusalem, ad regem Ezechiam in manu gravi, et stetit in aquaeductu piscinae superioris in via Agri fullonis.
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.
3 Et egressus est ad eum Eliachim filius Helchiae, qui erat super domum, et Sobna scriba, et Ioahe filius Asaph a commentariis.
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
4 Et dixit ad eos Rabsaces: Dicite Ezechiae: Haec dicit rex magnus, rex Assyriorum: Quae est ista fiducia, qua confidis?
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?
5 aut quo consilio vel fortitudine rebellare disponis? super quem habes fiduciam, quia recessisti a me?
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?
6 Ecce confidis super baculum arundineum confractum istum, super Aegyptum: cui si innixus fuerit homo, intrabit in manum eius, et perforabit eam: sic Pharao rex Aegypti omnibus, qui confidunt in eo.
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.
7 Quod si responderis mihi: In Domino Deo nostro confidimus: nonne ipse est, cuius abstulit Ezechias excelsa et altaria, et dixit Iuda et Ierusalem: Coram altari isto adorabitis?
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’?
8 Et nunc trade te domino meo regi Assyriorum, et dabo tibi duo millia equorum, nec poteris ex te praebere ascensores eorum.
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!
9 Et quomodo sustinebis faciem iudicis unius loci ex servis domini mei minoribus? Quod si confidis in Aegypto, in quadrigis, et in equitibus:
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?
10 et nunc numquid sine Domino ascendi ad terram istam ut disperderem eam? Dominus dixit ad me: Ascende super terram istam, et disperde eam.
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.’”
11 Et dixit Eliachim, et Sobna, et Ioahe ad Rabsacen: Loquere ad servos tuos Syra lingua: intelligimus enim: ne loquaris ad nos Iudaice in auribus populi, qui est super murum.
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.”
12 Et dixit ad eos Rabsaces: Numquid ad dominum tuum et ad te misit me dominus meus, ut loquerer omnia verba ista; et non potius ad viros, qui sedent in muro, ut comedant stercora sua, et bibant urinam pedum suorum vobiscum?
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?”
13 Et stetit Rabsaces, et clamavit voce magna Iudaice, et dixit: Audite verba regis magni, regis Assyriorum.
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 Haec dicit rex: Non seducat vos Ezechias, quia non poterit eruere vos.
This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
15 Et non vobis tribuat fiduciam Ezechias super Domino, dicens: Eruens liberabit nos Dominus, non dabitur civitas ista in manu regis Assyriorum.
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.’
16 Nolite audire Ezechiam: haec enim dicit rex Assyriorum: Facite mecum benedictionem, et egredimini ad me, et comedite unusquisque vineam suam, et unusquisque ficum suam: et bibite unusquisque aquam cisternae suae,
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,
17 donec veniam, et tollam vos ad terram, quae est ut terra vestra, terram frumenti et vini, terram panum et vinearum.
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.
18 Nec conturbet vos Ezechias, dicens: Dominus liberabit nos. Numquid liberaverunt dii gentium unusquisque terram suam de manu regis Assyriorum?
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?
19 Ubi est deus Emath, et Arphad? ubi est deus Sepharvaim? numquid liberaverunt Samariam de manu mea?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
20 Quis est ex omnibus diis terrarum istarum, qui eruerit terram suam de manu mea, ut eruat Dominus Ierusalem de manu mea?
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?”
21 Et siluerunt, et non responderunt ei verbum. Mandaverat enim rex, dicens: Ne respondeatis ei.
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
22 Et ingressus est Eliachim filius Helchiae, qui erat super domum, et Sobna scriba, et Ioahe filius Asaph a commentariis ad Ezechiam scissis vestibus, et nunciaverunt ei verba Rabsacis.
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.
