Isaiah 36 - Easy To Read Version Easy To Read Version
Isaiah 36

¹ During Hezekiah’s {\cf2\super [334]} 14th year as king, Sennacherib {\cf2\super [335]} king of Assyria went to fight against all the strong cities of Judah. Sennacherib defeated those cities.

² Sennacherib sent his commander with a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The commander and his army left Lachish and went to Jerusalem. They stopped near the aqueduct {\cf2\super [336]} by the Upper Pool. (The Upper Pool is on the road to Laundryman’s Field.)

³ Three men from Jerusalem went out to talk with the commander. These men were Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Joah son of Asaph, and Shebna. Eliakim was the palace manager. Joah was the record keeper. And Shebna was the royal secretary.

⁴ The commander told them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says:

⁵ I tell you if you are trusting in power and smart plans for battle—then that is useless. Those are nothing but empty words. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me?

⁶ Are you depending on Egypt to help you? Egypt is like a broken stick. If you lean on it for support, it will only hurt you and make a hole in your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, can’t be trusted by any of the people that depend on him for help.

⁷ But maybe you will say, “We are trusting in the Lord our God to help us.” But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars {\cf2\super [337]} and high places {\cf2\super [338]} where people worshiped the Lord. And Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem.”

⁸ If you still want to fight, my master, the king of Assyria will make this agreement with you. I promise that I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find enough men to ride those horses into battle.

⁹ But even then you will not be able to defeat even one of my master’s lowest ranking officers! So why do you continue to depend on Egypt’s chariots {\cf2\super [339]} and horse soldiers!

¹⁰ Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord’s help! No! The Lord said to me, “Go up against this country and destroy it!”

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah, said to the commander, “Please, speak to us in the Aramaic. We understand that language. Don’t speak to us in the language of Judah. If you use our language, the people on the city walls will understand you.”

¹² But the commander said, “My master did not send me to speak only to you and your master. My master sent me to also speak to the people that are sitting on the wall! Those people will not have enough food or water either; they too will eat their own waste and drink their own urine just like you. {\cf2\super [340]} ”

¹³ Then the commander shouted loudly in the Jewish language,

¹⁴ “Hear this message from the great king, the king of Assyria:

¹⁵ Don’t believe Hezekiah when he says, ‘Trust in the Lord! The Lord will save us. The Lord will not let the king of Assyria defeat the city.’

¹⁶ Don’t listen to those words from Hezekiah. Listen to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria says, “We should make an agreement. You people should come out of the city to me. Then every person will be free to go home. Every person will be free to eat grapes from his own vine. And every person will be free to eat the figs from his own fig tree. Every person will be free to drink water from his own well.

¹⁷ You can do this until I come and take each of you to a country like your own. In that new country you will have good grain and new wine, bread and fields of grapes.”

¹⁸ Don’t let Hezekiah make trouble for you. He says, “The Lord will save us.” But I ask you, did any of the gods of other nations save their country from the king of Assyria? No!

¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath {\cf2\super [341]} and Arpad? {\cf2\super [342]} \{They are defeated!\} Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? {\cf2\super [343]} \{They are defeated!\} Did they save Samaria {\cf2\super [344]} from my power? No!

²⁰ Did any of the gods in the other countries save their land from me? No! Can the Lord save Jerusalem from me? No!”

²¹ But the people in Jerusalem were very quiet. They did not say a word to the commander because King Hezekiah had given them a command. He said, “Don’t say anything to him.”

²² Then the palace manager (Eliakim son of Hilkiah), the royal secretary (Shebna), and the record keeper {\cf2\super [345]} (Joah son of Asaph) went to Hezekiah. Their clothes were torn \{to show they were upset\}. They told Hezekiah all the things that the Assyrian commander had said.