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?
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?
- BSB 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?
- 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?
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 36:18–20Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?
- 2 Kgs 18:33–35Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
- Isa 37:18–19Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,
- Isa 14:17who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
- 2 Kgs 17:4–6The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison.
- Isa 10:7–14However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few 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.