Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?
- KJV Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
- NKJV Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
- NASB Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?
- NLT You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
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
Sennacherib boasts that Assyria has utterly destroyed all lands and asks whether Judah can possibly escape. It is intimidation by appeal to a record of conquest.
Overview
The king points to Assyria's history of total destruction to argue that resistance is futile. His reasoning leaves God out, treating Judah as just another doomed nation. The verse exposes the pride of human power that forgets it answers to the Lord of all the earth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 36:18–20Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
- 2 Kgs 18:33–35Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
- Isa 37:18–19Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.
- Isa 14:17who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
- 2 Kgs 17:4–6But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
- Isa 10:7–14But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 37:11 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.