Isaiah 36:7

5 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?

6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

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
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’?
KJV
But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
WEB
But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?”
ASV
But if thou say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
DARBY
And if thou say to me, We rely upon Jehovah our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
BLB
But if you say to me, ‘In YHWH our God we trust,’ [is it] not He for whom His high places and His altars, Hezekiah has turned aside, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar you⁺ shall worship?
ÅB
Men sier du til meg: Vi setter vår lit til Herren vår Gud - er det da ikke hans offerhauger og altere Hiskia har tatt bort, da han sa til Juda og Jerusalem: For dette alter skal dere tilbe?
OTB
Men hvis du sier til meg: “Vi stoler på Herren vår Gud,” er det ikke Han hvis offerhauger og altere Hiskia har fjernet, og sagt til Juda og Jerusalem: “Dere skal tilbe foran dette alteret”?
B1930
Men sier du til mig: Vi setter vår lit til Herren vår Gud - er det da ikke hans offerhauger og altere Esekias har tatt bort, da han sa til Juda og Jerusalem: For dette alter skal I tilbede?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • 2 Kings 18:4–5

    He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

    Read in context
  • Psalms 42:10–11

    As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

    Read in context
  • 1 Corinthians 2:15

    But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

    Read in context
  • Psalms 42:5

    Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

    Read in context
  • Deuteronomy 12:13–14

    Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

    Read in context
  • 1 Chronicles 5:20

    And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.

    Read in context
  • 2 Chronicles 31:1

    Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

    Read in context
  • 2 Chronicles 16:7–9

    And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

    Read in context