Chronological

35 The forsaken Judah and (the place) without (a) way shall be glad, and [the] wilderness shall make full out joy, and shall flower as a lily (The deserted Judah and the place without a way shall be happy, and the desert shall rejoice, and shall flower like a lily.)

² It burgeoning shall burgeon, and it glad and praising shall make full out joy. The glory of Lebanon is given to it, the fairness of Carmel and of Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the fairness of our God.

³ Comfort ye [the] clumsid hands (Strengthen ye the benumbed hands), and make ye strong [the] feeble knees.

⁴ Say ye, Men of little comfort, be ye comforted, and do not ye dread; lo! our God shall bring the vengeance of yielding, God himself shall come, and shall save us. (Say ye, People of little courage, be ye strengthened, and do not ye fear; lo! our God shall bring the vengeance of punishment, or of retribution, God himself shall come, and shall save us.)

⁵ Then the eyes of blind men shall be opened, and the ears of deaf men shall be open(ed). (Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened.)

⁶ Then a crooked man shall skip as an hart, and the tongue of dumb men shall be opened (Then the lame shall skip like a hart, and the tongues of the dumb shall be loosened, or shall be freed); for why waters be broken out in (the) desert, and streams in (the) wilderness.

⁷ And that that was dry, is made into a pond, and the thirsty is made into wells of waters. [The] Greenness of [the] reed, and of [the] spire shall grow in [the] dens, in which dwelled dragons before (where jackals lived before).

⁸ And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called an holy way, (and) he that is defouled shall not pass thereby; and this shall be a straight way to you, so that fools err not thereby (but this shall be a strait, or a narrow, way for you, and fools shall not go astray there).

⁹ A lion shall not be there, and an evil beast shall not ascend thereby, neither shall be found there. And they shall go, that be delivered (But they who be rescued, shall go there);

¹⁰ and (those) again-bought of the Lord; and they shall be converted, and shall come into Zion with praising (and those bought back, or redeemed, by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Zion with praising); and everlasting gladness shall be on the head(s) of them; they shall have joy and gladness, and sorrow and wailing shall flee away.

36 And it was done in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyrians, ascended on all the strong cities of Judah, and took them.

² And the king of Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah, with great power; and he stood at the water conduit of the higher cistern, in the way of the field of a fuller, or (a) tucker (and he stopped by the water conduit of the Upper Pool, on the way to the Fuller’s Field).

³ And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house (who was over the king’s household), went out to him, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the chancellor.

⁴ And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is the trust, in which thou trustest?

⁵ either by what counsel either strength disposest thou for to rebel? on whom hast thou trust, for thou hast gone away from me?

⁶ Lo! thou trustest on this broken staff of (a) reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leaneth, either resteth, it shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it; so doeth Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.

⁷ That if thou answerest to me, We trust in our Lord God; whether it is not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah did away, and he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? (But if thou answerest to me, We trust in the Lord our God; was it not he, whose hill shrines and altars Hezekiah did away, and he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar alone?)

⁸ And now betake thee to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to thee two thousand horses, and thou mayest not give of thee riders of those horses (if thou can find enough riders for those horses).

⁹ And how shalt thou abide the face of the judge of one place of the less servants of my lord? That if thou trustest in Egypt, and in carts, and in knights; (And so how shalt thou stand before even the least of the servants of my lord? wilt thou still trust in the help of Egypt, and in their chariots, and in their horsemen?)

¹⁰ and now whether I ascended to this land without the Lord, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou on this land, and destroy thou it. (and now have I come against this land without the Lord’s consent, to destroy it? Nay! The Lord himself said to me, Go thou out against this land, and destroy thou it.)

¹¹ And Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak thou to thy servants by the language of Syria, for we understand; speak thou not to us by the language of Jews, in the ears of the people, which is on the wall. (And Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak thou to thy servants by the Syrian language, or in Aramaic, for we shall understand; speak thou not to us by the language of the Jews, or in Hebrew, in the hearing of all the people who be on the wall.)

¹² And Rabshakeh said to them, Whether my lord sent me to thy lord, and to thee, that I should speak all these words, and not rather to the men that sit on the wall, that they eat their turds, and drink the piss off their feet, with you? (And Rabshakeh said to them, Hath my lord sent me only to thy lord, and to thee, that I should speak all these words, and not rather to all those who sit on the wall, who shall have to eat their own turds, and drink their own piss from off their own feet, yea, like you will?)

¹³ And Rabshakeh stood, and cried with [a] great voice in the language of Jews, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyrians (the king of Assyria).

¹⁴ The king saith these things, Hezekiah deceive not you, for he may not deliver you; (The king saith these things, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot save you;)

¹⁵ and Hezekiah give not to you trust on the Lord, and say, The Lord delivering shall deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyrians. (and let not Hezekiah make you to trust in the Lord, and say, The Lord rescuing shall save us; and this city shall not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.)

¹⁶ Do not ye hear Hezekiah. For why the king of Assyrians saith these things, Make ye blessing with me, and go ye out to me; and eat ye each man his vinery, and each man his fig tree, and drink ye each man the water of his cistern, (Do not ye listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria saith these things, Make ye peace with me, and come ye out to me; and then each person shall eat the fruit of his own vine, and the figs from his own fig tree, and drink the water from his own cistern,)

¹⁷ till I come, and take away you to a land which is as your land; to a land of wheat and of wine, to a land of loaves and of vineries. (until I come, and take you away to a land which is like your land; to a land full of corn, or of grain, and wine, a land full of loaves and of vineyards.)

¹⁸ Hezekiah trouble not you, and say, The Lord shall deliver us. Whether the gods of folks delivered (to) each his land from the hand of the king of Assyrians? (Let not Hezekiah trouble you, and say, The Lord shall save us. Did any of the gods of these other nations rescue their lands from the hands, or the power, of the king of Assyria?)

¹⁹ Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arphad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? Whether they delivered Samaria from mine hand?

²⁰ Who is of all [the] gods of these lands, that delivered his land from mine hand, (and so give thou reason to believe) that the Lord (shall) deliver Jerusalem from mine hand?

²¹ And they were still, and answered not to him a word (and did not answer a word to him). For why the king commanded to them, and said, Answer ye not to him.

²² And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, chancellor, entered with rent clothes to Hezekiah, and told to him the words of Rabshakeh. (And then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the king’s household, and Shebna, the writer, or the royal secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the chancellor, entered to Hezekiah with torn clothes, and told him what Rabshakeh had said.)