Isa 36
1
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king
of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
2
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah
with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of
the fuller`s field.
3
Then came forth to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4
And Rabshakeh said to them, Say you now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the
king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust?
5
I say, [your] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom do
you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
6
Behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, whereon if
a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to
all that trust on him.
7
But if you say to me, We trust in YHWH our God: is not that he, whose high places
and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem,
You shall worship before this altar?
8
Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will
give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.
9
How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master`s servants,
and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10
And am I now come up without YHWH against this land to destroy it? YHWH said to me,
Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11
Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your servants
in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews` language,
in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
12
But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these
words? [has he] not [sent me] to the men that sit upon the wall, to eat their own
dung, and to drink their own water with you?
13
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews` language, and said,
Hear you the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14
Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver
you:
15
neither let Hezekiah make you trust in YHWH, saying, YHWH will surely deliver us;
this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me,
and come out to me; and eat you every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree,
and drink you every one the waters of his own cistern;
17
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.
18
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, YHWH will deliver us. Has any of the gods
of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have
they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20
Who are they among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country
out of my hand, that YHWH should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
21
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king`s commandment
was, saying, Answer him not.
22
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent,
and told him the words of Rabshakeh.