Isaiah 36:4

Bishops' Bible (1568)

And Rabsakeh sayde vnto them, Tell Hezekia that the great kyng saith thus vnto hym: What presumption is this that thou trustest vnto?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם֙ רַב שָׁקֵ֔ה אִמְרוּ־נָ֖א אֶל־חִזְקִיָּ֑הוּ כֹּֽה־אָמַ֞ר הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ אַשּׁ֔וּר מָ֧ה הַבִּטָח֛וֹן הַזֶּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר בָּטָֽחְתָּ

Transliteration

And wayyōʾmer to them raḇ šāqēh, ʾimrû-nāʾ to ḥizqîyāhû: thus kōh-ʾāmar ham-melek hag-gāḏôl melek ʾaššûr, what māh hab-biṭāḥôn haz-zeh ʾăšer bāṭāḥtā

Grammar Details

• *wayyōʾmer*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he said
• *raḇ šāqēh*: title/position - Rabshakeh (chief cupbearer)
• *ʾimrû-nāʾ*: qal imperative masculine plural + particle of entreaty - say, please
• *kōh-ʾāmar*: adverb + qal perfect 3rd masculine singular - thus says/said
• *ham-melek hag-gāḏôl*: definite article + noun + definite article + adjective - the king the great
• *melek ʾaššûr*: construct noun + proper noun - king of Assyria
• *māh hab-biṭāḥôn haz-zeh*: interrogative + definite article + noun + definite article + demonstrative pronoun - what is this confidence
• *ʾăšer bāṭāḥtā*: relative particle + qal perfect 2nd masculine singular - which you trust

Word Meanings

• *nāʾ*: please/now (particle of entreaty)
• *kōh*: thus/so
• *biṭāḥôn*: confidence/trust/reliance
• *bāṭāḥtā*: you trust/rely/have confidence

Referenced Verses

• 2 Kgs 18:19-37 : 19 And Rabsakeh sayd vnto them: Tell ye Hezekia I pray you, thus sayth the great king, euen the king of Assyria: what confidence is this that thou hast? 20 Thou thinkest surely I haue eloquece, but counsell and strength are for the warre: On whom then doest thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 21 Doest thou trust to the staffe of this broken reede Egypt, on which if a man leane, it will go into his hande, & pearse it: Euen so is Pharao king of Egypt vnto all that trust on hym. 22 If ye say vnto me, we trust in the Lorde our God: Is not that he whose hygh places and whose aulters Hezekia hath put downe? and hath sayd to Iuda and Hierusalem, ye shall worship before this aulter here in Hierusalem. 23 Nowe therfore I pray thee geue hostages to my lorde the king of Assyria, and I will deliuer thee two thousande horses, if thou be able to set ryders vpon them: 24 Why thinkest thou scorne at the presence of one of the least Dukes of my maisters seruauntes, and trustest to Egypt for charets and horsmen? 25 Moreouer, am I come nowe without the bidding of the Lorde to this place, to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go vp to this lande, and destroy it. 26 And Eliakim the sonne of Helkia, and Sobna, & Ioah, sayde vnto Rabsakeh: Speake I pray thee to thy seruauntes in the Syrians language (for we vnderstande it) and talke not with vs in the Iewes tongue in the eares of this people that are on the wall. 27 And Rabsakeh sayde vnto them: Hath my maister sent me to thy maister and thee, to speake these wordes? Hath he not sent me because of the men which sit on the wall, that they may eate their owne dongue, & drinke their owne pisse with you? 28 And so Rabsakeh stoode, & cryed with a lowde voyce in the Iewes language, and spake, saying: Heare the wordes of the great king, euen of the king of Assyria. 29 Thus sayth the king: Let not Hezekia beguile you, for he shal not be able to deliuer you out of myne hande: 30 Neither let Hezekia make you to trust in the Lorde, saying, The Lorde shall surely deliuer vs, & this citie shall not be geuen ouer into the hande of the king of Assyria. 31 Hearken not vnto Hezekia: For thus sayth the king of Assyria, Deale kindely with me, and come out to me, and then eate euery man of his owne vine, and of his owne figge tree, and drincke euery man of the water of his owne well, 32 Till I come, and set you to as good a lande as yours is, a lande of corne and wine, a lande of bread and vineyardes, a lande of oyle, of olyue trees, and of hony, that ye may liue, and not dye: And hearken not vnto Hezekia, for he beguileth you, saying: The Lorde shall deliuer vs. 33 Hath euery one of the gods of the nations deliuered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where is the god of Hamath, & of Arphad? and where is the god of Sepharuaim, Hena, and Iua? Dyd they deliuer Samaria out of myne hande? 35 And what god is among al the gods of the nations, that hath deliuered his land out of myne hande? Shall the Lorde deliuer Hierusalem out of myne hande? 36 But the people held their peace, and aunswered not him a word: for the king had commaunded, saying: Aunswere hym not. 37 Then Eliakim the sonne of Helkia, which was the steward of the houshold, and Sobna the scribe, & Ioah the sonne of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekia with their clothes rent, and tolde him the wordes of Rabsakeh.
• 2 Kgs 19:10 : 10 Thus speake to Hezekia king of Iuda, saying: Let not thy God deceaue thee in whom thou trustest, saying: Hierusalem shall not be deliuered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
• 2 Chr 32:7-9 : 7 Plucke vp your heartes and be strong: be not afrayde nor discouraged for the king of the Assyrians, & for all the multitude that he hath with hym: for there be mo with vs then with hym. 8 With him is an arme of flesh: but with vs is the Lord our God for to helpe vs, and to fight our battayles. And the people toke a courage through the wordes of Hezekia king of Iuda. 9 After this did Sennacherib king of the Assyrians send of his seruauntes to Hierusalem (but he him selfe remayned beside Lachis, hauing all his power with him) vnto Hezekia king of Iuda, and vnto all Iuda that were at Hierusalem, saying, 10 Thus saith Sennacherib king of the Assyrians: wherin do ye trust O ye that dwell in Hierusalem which is besieged?
• 2 Chr 32:14-16 : 14 Which of all the gods of those nations that my fathers destroyed, could deliuer his people out of my hande? And shall your God be able to deliuer you out of my hande? 15 Wherfore nowe let not Hezekia deceaue you, nor persuade you of this fassion, nor yet beleue him: For as no god among all nations and kingdomes, was able to rid his people out of my hand and out of the hand of my fathers: Howe much lesse shall your gods be able to kepe you out of my hande? 16 And yet mo thinges did his seruauntes speake against the Lorde God, and against his seruaunt Hezekia.
• Ps 42:3 : 3 My teares haue ben my meate day and nyght: whyle they dayly say vnto me where is nowe thy God.
• Ps 42:10 : 10 It was as a sworde in my bones, when myne enemies dyd cast me in the teeth: in saying dayly vnto me, where is nowe thy Lorde?
• Ps 71:10-11 : 10 For myne enemies speake against me: and they that lay awayte for my soule take their counsayle together. 11 They say, the Lorde hath forsaken hym: do you persecute hym and take hym, for there is none to delyuer hym.
• Prov 16:18 : 18 Pryde goeth before destruction, and an hygh mynde before the fall.
• Isa 10:8-9 : 8 For he saith, Are not my princes all kynges? 9 Is not Chalno as easie to winne, as Charchamis? Is it harder to conquer Hamath, then Arphad? or is it lighter to ouercome Damascus, then Samaria? 10 As who say I were able to winne the kyngdomes of the idolaters and their gods, but not Hierusalem and Samaria. 11 Shall I not do vnto Hierusalem and her images, as I dyd vnto Samaria and her idols? 12 Wherefore it shall come to passe, that assoone as the Lorde hath perfourmed his whole worke vpon the hill of Sion and Hierusalem, then wyll I visite the fruite of the stoute heart of the kyng of Assyria with his proude lookes. 13 For he standeth thus in his owne conceipt, This do I thorowe the power of myne owne hande, & thorowe my wysdome: for I am wyse, I am he that remoue the landes of the people, I rob their treasure, and haue pulled downe the inhabitauntes like a valiaunt man. 14 My hand hath found out the strength of the people as it were a nest: and like as egges that were layde here and there, are gathered together, so do I gather all countreys, and there was none so bolde as to moue the winge, that dare open his mouth, or once whisper.
• Isa 37:11-15 : 11 For lo, thou knowest well howe the kynges of Assyria haue handled all the landes that they haue subuerted: and hopest thou to escape? 12 Were the people of the gentiles whom my progenitours conquered, deliuered at any tyme through their gods? As namely Gosan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were at Thalassar? 13 Where is the king of Hemath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the citie Sepharuaim, Ena, and Aua? 14 Nowe when Hezekia had receaued the letter of the messengers, and read it, he went vp into the house of the Lorde, and opened the letter before the Lorde, 15 And Hezekia prayed vnto the Lorde on this maner.
• Ezek 31:3-9 : 3 Behold, Assur is a Cedar in Libanon, with faire braunches, and with thycke shadowing bowes, of a hygh stature, & his top was among the thicke bowes. 4 The waters made him great, and the deepe set him vp on hye, with her riuers running rounde about his plantes, and sent out her litle riuers vnto all the trees of the fielde. 5 Therefore was he higher then all the trees of the fielde, and his bowes were multiplied, & his braunches were long, because of the multitude of the waters, which the deepe sent out. 6 Al foules of the aire made their nestes in his braunches, vnder his bowes did all the beastes of the fielde bring foorth their young, and vnder his shadowe dwelt all mightie nations. 7 Beautiful was he in his greatnesse, and in the length of his braunches: for his roote stoode beside great waters. 8 No Cedar tree might hyde hym in the garden of God, there was no fyrre trees like his braunches, the chestnut trees were not like the bowes of him: all the trees in the garden of God, might not be compared vnto him in his beautie. 9 I made him faire with the multitude of his braunches: insomuch that all the trees in the pleasaunt garden of God had enuie at hym. 10 Therefore thus sayth the Lorde God: forsomuch as he hath lift vp him selfe so hye, and hath shot vp his top among the thycke bowes, and his heart is lift vp in his heyght: 11 I haue therfore deliuered hym into the handes of the mightiest among the heathen: he shall handle hym, for in his wickednesse haue I cast hym away. 12 And straungers haue destroyed hym, euen the terrible nations, and haue left hym: vpon the mountaynes and vpon al valleys haue his bowes fallen, and his bowes are broken by all the riuers of the land: and all the people of the earth are departed from his shadowe, & haue forsaken hym. 13 Upon his ruine shall all the foules of the ayre remayne, and all the beastes of the fielde shalbe vpon his braunches. 14 So that none of all the trees by the waters shalbe exalted in their heyght, nor shoot vp their toppes among the thycke bowes, neither shall their trees stande in their heyght, as many of them as drinke water: for they are all deliuered vnto death in the neather partes of the earth, in the mids of the children of men among them that go downe to the pit. 15 Thus sayth the Lord God: In the day when he went downe to the graue, I caused a lamentation to be made, I couered the deepe for hym, I restrayned the fluddes thereof, and the great waters were stayed, I caused Libanus to mourne for him, and all the trees of the fielde fainted. 16 I made the heathen shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast hym downe to hell with them that descend into the pit: all the excellent trees of Eden, & the best of Libanus, all that drinke waters, shalbe comforted in the neather partes of the earth. 17 They also went downe to hell with him vnto them that be slayne with the sword, which were his arme and dwelt vnder his shadowe in the middest of the nations. 18 To whom art thou thus like in glorie and in greatnesse among the trees of Eden? yet thou shalt be cast downe with the trees of Eden vnto the neather partes of the earth: in the middest of the vncircumcised shalt thou sleepe with them that are slayne with the sworde: This is Pharao and all his multitude, sayth the Lorde God.
• Dan 4:30 : 30 And the king spake, & sayd: Is not this great Babylon that I haue buylt for the house of the kingdome by the might of my power, and for the honour of my maiestie?
• Acts 12:22-23 : 22 And the people gaue a shout saying It is the voyce of God, & not of a man. 23 And immediatly the Angel of ye Lorde smote hym, because he gaue not God ye honour, & he was eaten of wormes, and gaue vp the ghost.
• Jude 1:16 : 16 These are murmurers, complayners, walkyng after their owne lustes, whose mouthes speake proude thynges. They haue men in great reuerence because of aduantage.
• 2 Kgs 18:5 : 5 He trusted in the Lorde God of Israel, so that after him was none lyke him among all the kinges of Iuda, neither were there any such before him.