Isaiah 36:8

8 "So now, make a wager with my master, Assyria's king. I'll give you two thousand horses if you can supply the riders!

Isaiah 36:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:8

Now therefore give pledges to my master the king of Assyria,
&c.] Or; "hostages" F8; that thou wilt not rebel against him, but be faithful to him, and he will withdraw his army; or give security for the horses after promised: "or mingle thyself with him"; agree the matter with him, give pledges for future fidelity; or join in battle with him, come out and fight him, if able: and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part
to set riders on them;
thus scoffing at him, as if he had not so many soldiers to bring out against him; or so many men in his kingdom as had skill enough to ride a horse; in his bravado he signifies, that if he would come out and fight him, he would lend him so many horses, if he could put men upon them, to assist him; this he said as boasting of his master's strength and power, and in scorn and derision at Hezekiah's weakness.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (breth) "da obsides", Vatablus; "paciscere cum domino meo, Gataker; "misceto, quaeso, [bellum] cum domino meo", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 36:8 In-Context

6 It appears that you are trusting in a staff—Egypt—that's nothing but a broken reed! It will stab the hand of anyone who leans on it! That's all that Pharaoh, Egypt's king, is to anyone who trusts in him.
7 Now suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God.' Isn't he the one whose shrines and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship only at this altar'?
8 "So now, make a wager with my master, Assyria's king. I'll give you two thousand horses if you can supply the riders!
9 How will you drive back even the least important official among my master's servants when you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders?
10 What's more, do you think I've marched against this place to destroy it without the LORD's support? It was the LORD who told me, ‘March against this land and destroy it!'"
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