Isaiah 36:5
3 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?
You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
6 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
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
- You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
- KJV
- I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
- WEB
- I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
- ASV
- I say, [thy] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
- DARBY
- Thou sayest, but it is a word of the lips, [There is] counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou rely, that thou hast revolted against me?
- BLB
- You speak a mere word of the lips [is] counsel and strength for the battle? Now, in whom are you trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
- ÅB
- Jeg sier: Bare tomme ord [er det du sier]: Her er innsikt og styrke nok til krig. Til hvem setter du da din lit, siden du har gjort opprør mot meg?
- OTB
- Du sier at du har strategi og styrke til krig, men dette er bare tomme ord. Hvem stoler du på, siden du har gjort opprør mot meg?
- B1930
- Jeg sier: Bare tomme ord [er det du sier]: Her er innsikt og styrke nok til krig. Til hvem setter du da din lit, siden du har gjort oprør mot mig?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
2 Kings 18:7
And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.
Read in contextEzekiel 17:15
But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and yet escape?’
Read in contextProverbs 21:30–31
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
Read in contextProverbs 24:5–6
A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge enhances his strength.
Read in contextJeremiah 52:3
For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Read in contextNehemiah 2:19–20
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
Read in context2 Kings 24:1
During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
Read in context