Isaiah 36:1-22
36 Now it came about in the fourteenth year of King Hez·e·kiʹah* that Sen·nachʹer·ib+ the king of As·syrʹi·a+ came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and proceeded to seize them.+
2 And the king of As·syrʹi·a finally sent Rabʹsha·keh+ from Laʹchish+ to Jerusalem,+ to King Hez·e·kiʹah, with a heavy military force, and he proceeded to stand still by the conduit+ of the upper pool+ at the highway of the laundryman’s field.+
3 Then there came out to him E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Hil·kiʹah,* who was over the household, and Shebʹna+ the secretary and Joʹah+ the son of Aʹsaph+ the recorder.+
4 Accordingly Rabʹsha·keh said to them: “Please, say to Hez·e·kiʹah, ‘This is what the great king,+ the king of As·syrʹi·a,+ has said: “What is this confidence in which you have trusted?+
5 You* have said (but it is the word of lips), ‘There are counsel and mightiness for the war.’+ Now in whom have you put trust, that you have rebelled against me?+
6 Look! You have trusted in the support of this crushed reed,+ in Egypt,+ which, if a man should brace himself upon it, would certainly enter into his palm and pierce it. That is the way Pharʹaoh+ the king of Egypt* is to all those putting their trust in him.+
7 And in case you should say to me, ‘It is Jehovah our God* in whom we have trusted,’ is he not the one whose high places+ and whose altars Hez·e·kiʹah has removed,+ while he says to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar YOU should bow down’?”’+
8 Now, then, make a wager,+ please, with my lord the king of As·syrʹi·a,+ and let me give you two thousand horses [to see] whether you are able, on your part, to put riders upon them.+
9 How, then, could you turn back the face of one governor of the smallest servants of my lord,+ while you, for your part, put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?+
10 And now is it without authorization from Jehovah that I have come up against this land to bring it to ruin? Jehovah himself said to me,+ ‘Go up against this land, and you must bring it to ruin.’”+
11 At this E·liʹa·kim+ and Shebʹna+ and Joʹah+ said to Rabʹsha·keh:+ “Speak, please, to your servants in the Syrian language,*+ for we are listening;* and do not speak to us in the Jews’ language*+ in the ears of the people that are on the wall.”+
12 But Rabʹsha·keh said: “Is it to your lord* and to you that my lord has sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men sitting upon the wall, that they may eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with YOU men?”+
13 And Rabʹsha·keh continued to stand+ and call out in a loud voice in the Jews’ language,+ and he went on to say: “HEAR the words of the great king, the king of As·syrʹi·a.+
14 This is what the king has said, ‘Do not let Hez·e·kiʹah deceive YOU people,+ for he is not able to deliver YOU.+
15 And do not let Hez·e·kiʹah cause YOU to trust in Jehovah,+ saying: “Without fail Jehovah will deliver us.+ This city will not be given into the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a.”+
16 Do not listen to Hez·e·kiʹah, for this is what the king of As·syrʹi·a has said: “Make a capitulation to me+ and come out to me and eat each one from his own vine and each one from his own fig tree+ and drink each one the water of his own cistern,+
17 until I come and actually take YOU to a land like YOUR own land,+ a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
18 in order that Hez·e·kiʹah may not allure YOU,+ saying, ‘Jehovah himself will deliver us.’ Have the gods* of the nations delivered each one his own land out of the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a?+
19 Where are the gods of Haʹmath+ and Arʹpad?+ Where are the gods of Seph·ar·vaʹim?+ And have they delivered Sa·marʹi·a out of my hand?+
20 Who are there among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand+ so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”’”+
21 And they continued to keep silent and did not answer him a word,+ for the commandment of the king was, saying: “YOU must not answer him.”+
22 But E·liʹa·kim+ the son of Hil·kiʹah, who was over the household,+ and Shebʹna+ the secretary and Joʹah+ the son of Aʹsaph the recorder came to Hez·e·kiʹah with their garments ripped apart,+ and told him the words of Rabʹsha·keh.+
Footnotes
^ Meaning “Jehovah Strengthens.” Heb., Chiz·qi·yaʹhu.
^ Meaning “My Portion Is Jehovah.” Heb., Chil·qi·yaʹhu.
^ “Egypt.” Heb., Mits·raʹyim (in the dual number), used for Egypt as a whole, including Upper and Lower Egypt. Compare 37:25 ftn.
^ “Our God.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹnu.
^ Or, “Aramaic language.” Heb., ʼAra·mithʹ; Gr., Sy·ri·stiʹ; Lat., Syʹra linʹgua.
^ Or, “understanding.”
^ “The Jews’ language.” Heb., Yehu·dhithʹ; Gr., I·ou·da·i·stiʹ; Lat., Iu·daʹi·ce.
^ “Your lord.” Heb., ʼadho·neyʹkha, pl. of ʼa·dhohnʹ, to denote excellence.
^ “The gods of.” Heb., ʼelo·hehʹ.
