Isaiah 36:8-18

8 I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many riders.

9 You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and horsemen.

10 Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord's help? The Lord himself told me to attack it and destroy it."

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, "Speak Aramaic to us. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening."

12 He replied, "Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will."

13 Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, "Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you.

14 He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you.

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?

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.