Isaiah 36:8

8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

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 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God, ” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?

8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: 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 a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. ’”