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?
Parallel translations
- WEB Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?
- KJV And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
- NKJV Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?
- NASB And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have?
- NLT Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
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
The Rabshakeh, speaking for the Assyrian king, mocks Hezekiah's confidence and demands to know what he trusts in.
Overview
Calling his master 'the great king,' the Rabshakeh opens his propaganda by ridiculing the basis of Judah's hope. His central question, 'what is this confidence,' aims to undermine trust in God. The challenge frames the whole episode as a test of where true security lies, in human power or in the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Kgs 18:19–37The 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?
- Isa 10:8–14“Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.
- Ps 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Ezek 31:3–18Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.
- Jude 1:16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
- Prov 16:18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Ps 42:10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Acts 12:22–23And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
- 2 Kgs 19:10“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Ps 71:10–11For my enemies speak against me, and those who lie in wait for my life conspire,
- 2 Chr 32:14–16Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?
- Isa 37:11–15Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
- 2 Chr 32:7–10“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him.
- 2 Kgs 18:5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.
- Dan 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
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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 36:4 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
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