Isaiah 36:8-18

8 "Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
9 "How then can you repulse * one official of the least of my master's servants and 1rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10 "Have I now come up without the LORD'S approval against this land to destroy it? 2The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.' ""'
11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in 3Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in 4Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
12 But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"
13 Then Rabshakeh stood and 5cried with a loud 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 6deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
15 nor let Hezekiah make you 7trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
16 'Do not listen to Hezekiah,' for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his 8vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the 9waters 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 that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, "10The LORD will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Isaiah 36:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 36

In this chapter we have an account of the king Assyria's invasion of Judea, and of the railing speech of Rabshakeh his general, to discourage the ministers and subjects of the king of Judah. The time and success of the invasion are observed in Isa 36:1 the messenger the former king sent to the latter, and from whence, and with whom, he conferred, Isa 36:2,3, the speech of the messenger, which consists of two parts; the first part is directed to the ministers of Hezekiah, showing the vain confidence of their prince in his counsels and strength for war, in the king of Egypt, and in his chariots and horsemen, and even in the Lord himself, pretending that he came by his orders to destroy the land, Isa 36:4-10. The other part is directed to the common people on the wall, he refusing to speak in the Syrian language, as desired, Isa 36:11,12, dissuading them from hearkening to Hezekiah to their own deception; persuading them to come into an agreement with him for their own safety and good; observing to them that none of the gods of the nations could deliver them out of his master's hands, and therefore it was in vain for them to expect deliverance from the Lord their God, Isa 36:13-20, to which neither ministers nor people returned any answer; but the former went with their clothes rent to Hezekiah, and reported what had been said, Isa 36:21,22.

Cross References 10

  • 1. Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 30:2-5, 7; Isaiah 31:3
  • 2. 1 Kings 13:18; 1 Kings 22:6, 12
  • 3. Ezra 4:7; Daniel 2:4
  • 4. Isaiah 36:13
  • 5. 2 Chronicles 32:18
  • 6. Isaiah 37:10
  • 7. Isaiah 36:18, 20; Isaiah 37:10, 11
  • 8. 1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10
  • 9. Proverbs 5:15
  • 10. Isaiah 36:15

Footnotes 8

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