Isaiah 36:11
9 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
- KJV
- Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
- WEB
- Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
- ASV
- Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews` language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
- DARBY
- And Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rab-shakeh, Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in Syriac, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jewish [language] in the ears of the people that are upon the wall.
- BLB
- And Eliakim said and Shebna and Joah to the Rabshakeh, “Speak, please, to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand [it]; and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall.”
- ÅB
- Da sa Eljakim og Sebna og Joah til Rabsake: Tal til dine tjenere på syrisk, for vi forstår det språket, og tal ikke til oss på jødisk, så folket som står på muren, hører det!
- OTB
- Da sa Eliakim, Sjebna og Joah til overkommandanten: «Vær så snill å snakke til dine tjenere på arameisk, for vi forstår det. Ikke snakk til oss på judeisk så folket på muren hører det.»
- B1930
- Da sa Eljakim og Sebna og Joah til Rabsake: Tal til dine tjenere på syrisk, for vi forstår det sprog, og tal ikke til oss på jødisk, så folket som står på muren, hører det!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ezra 4:7
And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated.
Read in contextDaniel 2:4
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
Read in context2 Kings 18:26–27
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
Read in context