ULT ISA Chapter 36

◄ ISA 36 ► ║ ═ ©

36 And in 14, the year to King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a heavy army. And he stood by the conduit of the Upper Pool on the highway of the Field of the Fuller. 3 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to him. 4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this trust that you trust? 5 You speak only a word of lips, ‘Counsel and might for war.’ Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, on which a man leans and it goes into his palm and pierces it. Thus is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all of the ones trusting in him.” ’ 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘To the face of this altar you shall prostrate yourselves’? 8 ‘And now, wager, please, with my master, the king of Assyria. And I will give to you 2, 000 horses if you are able to put riders on them for yourself. 9 But how would you turn back the face of a captain of one of the least servants of my master? So you trust for yourself in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen.’ 10 ‘“And now, have I come up against this land to destroy it without Yahweh? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”

11 And Eliakim, with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding. But may you not speak in Judean to us in the ears of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Did my master send me to speak these words to your master and to you? Was it not to the men sitting on the wall, who will eat their dung and drink their urine with you?” 13 And the Rabshakeh stood, and he called out in a great voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he is not able to deliver you. 15 And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Delivering, Yahweh will deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ 16 May you not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and eat, a man of his vine and a man of his fig tree, and drink, a man from the waters of his well, 17 until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, 18 lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Did the gods of the nations deliver, a man, his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? And indeed, did they deliver Samaria from my hand? 20 Who are they among all of the gods of these lands that have delivered their land from my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

21 But they were silent and did not answer him a word, for it was a commandment of the king, saying, “You shall not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, with Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah, torn of clothes. And they declared to him the words of the Rabshakeh.