U-Isaya 36
1 Kwasekusithi ngomnyaka wetshumi lane wenkosi uHezekhiya, uSenakheribi inkosi yeAsiriya wenyuka wamelana lemizi yonke evikelweyo yakoJuda, wayithatha.
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
2 Njalo inkosi yeAsiriya yathuma uRabi-Shake esuka eLakishi esiya eJerusalema enkosini uHezekhiya lebutho elinzima. Wasesima emfolweni wechibi elingaphezulu, emgwaqweni omkhulu wensimu yomwatshi.
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 Kwasekuphumela kuye uEliyakhimi, indodana kaHilikhiya, owayephezu kwendlu, loShebina umbhali, loJowa indodana kaAsafi umabhalane.
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
4 URabi-Shake wasesithi kubo: Tshonini khathesi kuHezekhiya ukuthi: Itsho njalo inkosi enkulu, inkosi yeAsiriya: Lithemba bani leli othembele kulo?
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 Ngithi (kodwa yilizwi lendebe): Kuleseluleko lamandla empi. Khathesi uthembele kubani ukuthi ungivukele?
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 Khangela, uthembele kuloludondolo lwalo umhlanga owephukileyo, kuyo iGibhithe, okuthi uba umuntu eseyama kulo, luzangena esandleni sakhe lusihlabe. Unjalo uFaro inkosi yeGibhithe kubo bonke abathembela kuye.
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 Kodwa uba usithi kimi: Sithembela eNkosini uNkulunkulu wethu; kakusuye yini ozindawo zakhe eziphakemeyo lamalathi akhe uHezekhiya akususileyo, wathi kuJuda leJerusalema: Lizakhonza phambi kwaleli ilathi?
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 Ngakho-ke ake unike isibambiso enkosini yami, inkosi yeAsiriya; njalo ngizakunika amabhiza azinkulungwane ezimbili, uba wena ulakho ukunika abagadi bamabhiza phezu kwawo.
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 Uzabuyisela njani-ke emuva ubuso bombusi oyedwa wabancinyane bezinceku zenkosi yami, wena-ke uthembela eGibhithe ngenxa yezinqola labagadi bamabhiza?
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 Khathesi sengenyukile yini ngingelaNkosi ngimelene lalelilizwe ukulichitha? INkosi yathi kimi: Yenyuka umelene lalelilizwe, ulichithe.
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 UEIiyakimi loShebina loJowa basebesithi kuRabi-Shake: Ake ukhulume lenceku zakho ngesiSiriya, ngoba siyasiqedisisa; ungakhulumi lathi ngesiJuda, endlebeni zabantu abaphezu komduli.
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 Kodwa uRabi-Shake wathi: Inkosi yami ingithume enkosini yakho lakuwe yini ukukhuluma lamazwi? Kakusebantwini yini abahlezi phezu komduli ukuze badle ubulongwe babo, banathe umchamo wabo kanye lani?
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 URabi-Shake wema-ke, wamemeza ngelizwi elikhulu ngesiJuda, wathi: Zwanini amazwi enkosi enkulu, inkosi yeAsiriya.
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 Itsho njalo inkosi: UHezekhiya kangalikhohlisi, ngoba kayikuba lakho ukulikhulula.
This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
15 Futhi uHezekhiya angalenzi lithembele eNkosini, esithi: INkosi izasikhulula lokusikhulula; lumuzi kawuyikunikelwa esandleni senkosi yeAsiriya.
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 Lingamlaleli uHezekhiya, ngoba itsho njalo inkosi yeAsiriya: Dingani umusa wami ngesipho, lisithumele kimi; lidle ngulowo lalowo okwevini lakhe, langulowo lalowo okomkhiwa wakhe, linathe ngulowo lalowo amanzi omthombo wakhe;
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 ngize ngifike, ngilithathe, ngilise elizweni elifanana lelizwe lenu, ilizwe lamabele lewayini elitsha, ilizwe lesinkwa lezivini.
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 UHezekhiya kangalihugi esithi: INkosi izasikhulula. Onkulunkulu bezizwe bakhulule yini, ngulowo lalowo ilizwe lakhe, esandleni samakhosi eAsiriya?
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 Bangaphi onkulunkulu beHamathi leArpadi? Bangaphi onkulunkulu beSefavayimi? Bayikhulule yini layo iSamariya esandleni sami?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
20 Ngobani phakathi kwabo bonke onkulunkulu balawomazwe abakhulule ilizwe labo esandleni sami, ukuthi iNkosi ikhulule iJerusalema esandleni sami?
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 Kodwa bathula, kabaze bamphendula lizwi, ngoba umlayo wenkosi wawuyikuthi: Lingamphenduli.
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
22 Kwasekufika uEliyakhimi, indodana kaHilikhiya, owayephezu kwendlu, loShebina umbhali, loJowa indodana kaAsafi, umabhalane, kuHezekhiya, izigqoko zabo zidatshuliwe, bamtshela amazwi kaRabi-Shake.
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.
