This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you.
- KJV Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
- BSB This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
- NKJV Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
- NASB This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to save you;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He urges the people not to let Hezekiah deceive them, claiming the king cannot save them.
Overview
The Rabshakeh attacks Hezekiah's credibility, telling the people their king cannot deliver them from Assyria. The aim is to separate the people from their leader and from faith. The taunt sets up the central question of the narrative: whether the Lord, working through Hezekiah, can save Jerusalem, which he indeed does.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Th 2:4he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
- Rev 13:5–6A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.
- Isa 37:10–13“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
- Dan 6:20When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice; the king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?
- Dan 3:15–17Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good: but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
- 2 Kgs 19:22Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- 2 Chr 32:11Doesn’t Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ‘Yahweh our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?’
- 2 Chr 32:13–19Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand?
- 2 Kgs 19:10–13‘Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: “Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Dan 7:25He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 36:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.