Isaiah 36:17

17 until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread.

Isaiah 36:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:17

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
&c.]. Some have thought, as Jerom observes, that the land of Media was meant, which bore some likeness to the land of Judea in situation and fruitfulness. Maimonides thinks that Africa is intended F12. Rabshakeh names no land, nor could he name any like, or equal to, the land of Canaan; he could not conceal his intention to remove them from their own land to another; this having been always done by the king of Assyria to people conquered by him, and as was usual for conquerors to do, that so the conquered might have no expectation or opportunity of recovering their own land: a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards;
corn for bread, and vineyards for wine, and both for food and drink; such a land was the land of Judea. The description agrees with ( Deuteronomy 8:8 ) . Rabshakeh was well acquainted with the land of Judea; and this seems to confirm the conjecture of the Jews, that he was one of their people, since he could speak their language, and describe their land so well; all this he said to sooth and persuade them to a voluntary surrender.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 See T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1.

Isaiah 36:17 In-Context

15 And don't let him persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don't think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city.
16 Don't listen to Hezekiah! The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells -
17 until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread.
18 Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the Lord will rescue you. Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria?
19 Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did anyone save Samaria?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.