Isaiah 36

₁King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the cities that had walls around them in the land_of_Judah and he defeated them. This was in the 14th year after Hezekiah had become king. ₂The king of Assyria sent a chief_officer from the city of Lachish to Jerusalem. There were a lot of soldiers with the chief officer. The chief officer stood at the water channel from the upper dam, on the way to where the people always washed wool. ₃Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah, son of Asaph, went to the chief_officer. They were the 3 most important_officials of King Hezekiah.

₄The officer of Assyria said to them: ‘You must tell King Hezekiah that we bring a message from the great king of Assyria. The king asks: “Hezekiah, do you think anyone can help you? ₅You want to go to war_against me, but it will not help you just to talk and make plans. ₆You think that Egypt will help you, but Egypt is like a reed staff that has broken. If you try to use it as a staff, it will hurt your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is like a reed staff to all who think that he can help them. ₇You say that the Lord your God will help you, but I tell you that He will not help you, because Hezekiah has destroyed the places_of_sacrifice and altars of your God. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem that they may pray only at the burnt-offering altar in Jerusalem.”

₈I will tell you what my king, the king of Assyria, will do. He will give you 2 000 horses, if you have enough soldiers to ride on those horses. But you do not have enough soldiers. ₉You can not win in a war_against one of the governors, against one of the unimportant officials of my king. But you think Egypt can help you. You think Egypt can give you war-chariots and horses. ₁₀You must also know that it was not I who decided to destroy this land. It was the Lord who told me: “You must go and destroy that land.” ’

₁₁Eliakim, Shebna and Joah told the chief_officer: ‘Please talk to us in the Aramaic language. We understand your language. Do not talk in Hebrew because we do not want the people on the wall to understand what you say.’

₁₂But the chief_officer said: ‘No, my king has sent me to bring this message not only to your king and to you, but I must also bring this message to these people who are sitting on the wall. They will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine and you will also have to do it.’

₁₃Then the chief_officer went to the wall and he talked loudly in Hebrew and said: ‘You must listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria, says. ₁₄The king says: “Don't let Hezekiah deceive you. He can not save you.” ₁₅Hezekiah says you must believe that God will save you. He told you that the king of Assyria will not defeat this city, that is sure. But you must not believe Hezekiah. ₁₆Do not listen to him because the king of Assyria says: “You must make peace with me and you must come to me. Then every one of you will have his own land to stay on, and eat his own grapes and figs and drink water from his water-well. ₁₇Later I will come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with a lot of wheat and wine, a land with food and vineyards.”

₁₈Do not listen to Hezekiah. Do not let him deceive you. He says the Lord will save you, but I ask you: Could the gods of the other nations protect their lands from the king of Assyria? No. ₁₉Where are the gods of the lands of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Those gods could not help their people. And who could protect the people of Samaria from me? No one. ₂₀What god in all of those lands could protect his land from me? Not one, and the Lord can not protect Jerusalem from me.’

₂₁Eliakim and the other 2 men kept quiet. They did not answer the chief_officer because King Hezekiah had told them not to answer the chief officer. ₂₂They went to Hezekiah and they tore their clothes and they told him what the chief_officer had said.