THE BOOK OF ISAIAH

 

Isaiah Chapter 36

1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria advanced against all the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.

2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field marshal from Lachish to king Hezekiah in Jerusalem with a great army. And he stood near the conduit to the upper pool on the highway to the fuller’s field.

3 Then Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the record keeper, went out to him.

4 And the field marshal said to them, Tell Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyria, asks this, What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

5 Do you suppose that mere words spoken by the lips can take the place of strategy and military might? who are you relying on, that you dare rebel against me?

6 Look, you know Egypt is the staff you are trusting in, but Egypt is a broken reed, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.

7 But if you say to me, We are trusting in the LORD our God: isn’t he, the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, You will worship before this altar?

8 Come now, make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to place riders upon them.

9 How will you turn back the attack of just one of the least of my master’s minor officers, while you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 Furthermore, Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the LORD’S approval? the LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 ¶ Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the field marshal, Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and do not speak to us in the Hebrew language, as long as the people on the wall are listening.

12 But the field marshal said, Did my master send me to tell these things only to your master and you? has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, who might have to eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?

13 Then the field marshal stood, and cried with a loud voice in the language of the Jews, 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 will not be able to save you.

15 And do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely save us: this city will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Do not listen to Hezekiah: for the king of Assyria says this, Make peace with me now, and surrender to me: and every one of you will eat from his own vine, and fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water from his own cistern;

17 Until 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.

18 Do not let Hezekiah sway you, by saying, The LORD will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they save Samaria from my hands?

20 Was there any among all the gods of these lands, who could save their country from my hand, that the LORD should now save Jerusalem from my hand?

21 But they remained silent, and did not say a word in reply: because the king’s order was, Do not answer him.

22 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the record keeper, returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him what the field marshal had said.