Isaiah 36:1–37:20

^*Now it came to pass ^ain the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. ^2*bAnd the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. ³Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, ^cwhich was over the house, and ^cShebna the ^||scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder. ⁴And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith ^dthe great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ⁵I say, ^ddsayest thou, (but they are but ^†vain words) ^||I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? ⁶Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: ^eso is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. ⁷But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? ⁸Now therefore give ^||pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. ⁹How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and ^efput thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? the Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

¹¹Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy 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. ¹²But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? ¹³Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of ^dthe great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹⁶Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, ^||Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; ^17gUntil I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, ^hsaying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered ⁱSamaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ²¹But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. ²²Then 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.

37And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto ^aIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is ^ba day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of ^||blasphemy: for ^cthe children are come to ^dthe birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for ^ddthe remnant that is ^†left. ⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷Behold, I will ^||send a blast upon him, and ^ehe shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ⁹And ^fhe heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of ^gHamath, and the king of ^gArphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, ¹⁶O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: ^hthou hast made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ⁱIncline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁸Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the ^†nations, and their countries, ¹⁹And have ^†cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. ²⁰Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, ^jthat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.