Assyria in the Bible
Meaning: country of Assur or Ashur
Exact Match
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,
And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
“Nevertheless the Kenites will be consumed.
How long will Asshur (Assyria) keep you (Israel) captive?”
“But ships shall come from the coast of
And shall afflict Asshur (Assyria) and
So they (the victors) also will come to destruction.”
And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
"This is what the LORD says: "Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Look! I'm going to cause an attitude to grow within him so that he'll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I'll make him die by the sword in his own land!"'"
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
‘Have you not heard [asks the God of Israel]?
Long ago I did it;
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
‘Because of your raging against Me,
And because your arrogance and complacency have come up to My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose,
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back [to Assyria] by the way that you came.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them [were] dead corpses.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
Beerah his son, whom Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria carried away captive: he was prince of the Reubenites.
For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was of God. And these Israelites settled in their territory until the exile [by Assyria more than five centuries later].
And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
"Listen, you descendants of Israel! Come back to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may come back to those of you who have escaped and survived from domination by the kings of Assyria. Don't be like your ancestors and your relatives, who weren't faithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, who, as a result, made them a desolate horror, as you well know.
After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.
So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?
Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers houses , and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.
And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a rasor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
“Then it will
Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head],
And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel],
The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!
I send Assyria against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My wrath
To take the spoil and to seize the plunder,
And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
Yet it is not Assyria’s intention [to do My will],
Nor does it plan so in its heart,
But instead it is its purpose to destroy
And to cut off many nations.
Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” [declares Assyria].
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria;
And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame,
And it will
The Lord will consume the glory of Assyria’s forest and of its fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: "My people who live [in] Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you {as the Egyptians did}.
and has gone through Migron,
storing his equipment at Michmash.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him down on my mountains; and he shall remove his yoke from them, and he shall remove his burden from his shoulders."
This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.
The [mournful, inspired] oracle (
And will become a fallen ruin.
The land of Judah [Assyria’s ally] will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is planning against Egypt.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?
Look [at] the land of the Chaldeans! {This people no longer exists. Assyria destined} it for wild animals. They erected its siege towers; they demolished its citadel fortresses. It made her like a ruin.
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Assyria » Prophecies concerning
At that time, the LORD will hire a barber to come from beyond the Euphrates River that is, the king of Assyria and he will shave your heads, your leg hair, and your beards, too. "At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey. "At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow. "People will come there armed with bows and arrows, because the entire land will be nothing but briers and thorns. As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."
watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong. "It's the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river's channels and run over all of its banks. He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person's neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!" "Band together, you nations, but be shattered! Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor, but be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us."
"Because this is what he is saying: "My commanders are all kings, are they not? Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?'" "For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria's king and the haughty look in his eyes. He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones. My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.' "Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood! Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria's sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire. "The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria's thorns and briers in a single day. The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy both soul and body and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away. What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few that a child can count them." At that time, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them down, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return a remnant of Jacob to the Mighty God. For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed, because the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will bring about destruction, as has been decreed, throughout the entire region. Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says: "My people, you who live in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you, who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did. In just a little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger then will be directed to their destruction. The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his staff was stretched out over the sea, so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt. At that time, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck. Indeed, the yoke will be broken, because you've become obese." "The Assyrian commander has come upon Aiath and has passed through Migron; he stores his supplies at Michmash. He has crossed over by the pass; his overnight lodging is at Geba. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laish! Poor Anathoth! Marmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim take cover. This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem's hill. Behold, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will lop off its boughs with terrifying power; the tallest in height will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One."
For the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has planned, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" In the year that King Ahaz died this message came:
And the LORD will make heard yes, he will make heard his majestic voice, and make his arm seen descending in raging anger and in a flame of consuming fire, with a cloudburst, thunderstorm and hailstones. Indeed, the Assyrians will be shattered at the LORD's voice, when he strikes them with his scepter. And every stroke of his punishing rod that the LORD brings down on them will be to the sound of tambourines and harps, as he fights against her in battle with a brandished arm. For the Fire Pit has long been prepared; truly it is for the king; it will indeed be made ready. And its pyre will be deep and wide, with abundant fire and wood. Like a stream of burning sulfur, the breath of the LORD will set it ablaze.
By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, "With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt." ""Didn't you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I've made it happen that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ""I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings and how you've become enraged at me. Your insolence has reached my ears, so I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I'll make you turn back on the road by which you came. "And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this. "Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "He won't enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. By the same way that he came, he will return; he won't enter this city,' declares the LORD, "because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!'"
Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it. As Jonah started into the city on the first day's journey, he proclaimed the message, "40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!"
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Invasion of judah by
At that time, the LORD will hire a barber to come from beyond the Euphrates River that is, the king of Assyria and he will shave your heads, your leg hair, and your beards, too.
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Destruction of
"Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood! Therefore, the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies will send a wasting disease among Assyria's sturdy warriors, and under its glory a conflagration will be kindled, like a blazing bonfire. "The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria's thorns and briers in a single day. The splendor of its forest and its fruitful land the LORD will destroy both soul and body and Assyria will be as when a dying man wastes away. What survives of the trees in his forest will be so few that a child can count them."
Assyria » The jews condemned for following the idolatries of
They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. She became an object of ridicule among other nations when they punished her." "Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality. She lusted after the Assyrians governors, commanders, warriors clothed in gorgeous attire, cavalry mounted on their horses all of them desirable young men. I saw that she was defiled, because the two of them both were on the same path. "She became even more sexually immoral when she saw the images of the Chaldean men who had been carved in red on their walls. Girded with waistbands around their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looked like chariot officers, similar to the Babylonians from Chaldea, where they had been born. "She lusted after them when she saw them, so she sent messengers to summon them from Chaldea. The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust. She displayed her immorality publicly and stripped herself naked, so I turned away in disgust from her, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister. "Nevertheless, she became even more sexually immoral, even reminiscing about when she was young, when she kept on practicing sexual immorality in the land of Egypt. She lusted after her paramours, whose genitals are like those of donkeys, and whose emissions are like those of horses. Think about the wickedness that you practiced when you were young, when the Egyptians fondled your breasts, the breasts of your youth." "Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look! I'm about to stir up your lovers against you, the ones from whom you've turned away in disgust. I'm going to bring them against you from every direction the Babylonians, all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all of the Assyrians with them. They're all desirable young men, governors, commanders, chariot officers, and famous men, all of them mounted on horses. ""They'll invade you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and a vast army. They'll set themselves in place to attack you from every direction with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I'll turn over judgment to them, and they'll punish you according to their own standards. I'll expend my jealousy on you so they'll deal with you in anger. They'll cut off your noses and your ears. Your survivors will die violently. They'll take your sons and daughters away from you, but your survivors will be incinerated. They'll strip off your clothes and confiscate your jewelry. That's how I'll put an end to your obscene conduct and sexual immorality that you kept on practicing since the day you left the land of Egypt so that you won't look in Egypt's direction or even remember it anymore.' "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm about to turn you over to the control of those you hate, to the control of those from whom you turned away in disgust. They'll deal with you with hatred. They'll take away your productivity, leaving you naked and defenseless, so that the nakedness of your sexual immorality will be uncovered your licentious sexual immorality. These things will happen to you because of your sexual immorality that was patterned after what the nations do. You've been defiled by their idols. You took the path of your sister, so I'll place her cup in your hand.' "This is what the Lord GOD says: "You'll drink from your sister's cup, which is both large and deep. You'll become a laughing stock and an object of derision, since the cup is so full! You'll be filled with drunkenness and grief. The cup that belongs to your sister Samaria is filled with horror and devastation, but you'll drink from it and drain it completely. As for the vessel, you'll break it to pieces and you'll tear at your breasts, for I've spoken,' declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Because you abandoned me and threw me behind your back, you will bear the consequences of your obscene conduct and sexual immorality.'" Then the LORD spoke to me. "Son of Man, speak out in judgment of both Oholah and Oholibah. Make their detestable practices widely known, because they've committed adultery, and blood covers their hands. They've also committed adultery with their idols, making their sons born to me to pass through the fire as an offering to them. "They've also done this to me: They defiled my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths, all at the same time! When they killed their sons as offerings to their idols, they brought them to my sanctuary and defiled it. Look what they've done with my Temple! "In addition, they sent messengers for men to come from afar. When they arrived, you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes, adorned yourself with jewelry, then sat down on an elegant bed. A table was arranged in front of it, on which you set out my incense and oil. The sound of a carefree multitude accompanied her. Men from a multitude of nations were coming including Sabeans from the wilderness, adorned with bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads. "After she had worn herself out by her adulterous behavior, I asked her, "Will they continue with their sexual immorality and with their prostitution?' They've gone to her, like men do, to have sex with a prostitute. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those licentious women. Righteous men will judge them with punishments fit for adulterers and for those who shed blood, because they're adulterers with blood on their hands." This is what the Lord GOD says: "Bring an army against them and deliver them over to terror and plunder. Then the army will stone them with stones and cut them to pieces with their swords. They'll kill their sons and daughters and incinerate their houses. I'll cause obscene conduct to stop throughout the land, because all the women will be admonished not to practice their obscene conduct. You'll receive the consequences for your obscene conduct and bear the punishment for your sins of idolatry. Then you'll know that I am the Lord GOD."
Assyria » Celebrated for » Extent of conquests
"For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria's king and the haughty look in his eyes. He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones. My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.'
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Conquest and captivity of israel by
Assyria » Sennacherib
At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD's Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria. Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. When they called for the King, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them. Rab-shakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, "This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ""Why are you so confident? You're saying but they're only empty words "I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!' ""Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! ""Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"' ""Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? "Now then, haven't I come up apart from the LORD to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine along with you?" Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. This is what the king says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. And don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, "The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die." "But don't listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us!" Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'" But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king's order was, "Don't answer him." But Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said.
Assyria » Shalmaneser
As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
So the king of Assyria issued this order: "Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land."
because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Insulted and threatened judah
""Why are you so confident? You're saying but they're only empty words "I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!' ""Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! ""Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"' ""Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? "Now then, haven't I come up apart from the LORD to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine along with you?" Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. This is what the king says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. And don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, "The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die."
Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Reproved for pride and blasphemy
Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, "LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren't gods but rather were the product of men's handiwork wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. Now, LORD our God, I'm praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!" Then Amoz's son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: "Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.'" "This is what the LORD has spoken against him: "She despises and mocks you, this virgin daughter of Zion! Behind your back she shakes her head, this daughter of Jerusalem! Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, "With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest. I myself dug for and drank foreign water. With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!" "Didn't you hear? I determined it years ago! I planned this from ancient times, and now I've brought it to pass, to turn fortified cities into piles of ruins while their inhabitants, lacking strength, stand dismayed and confused. They were like vegetation out in the fields, and like green herbs just as grass that grows on a housetop dries out before it can grow. "But when you sit down, when you go out, and when you come in, I'm aware of it! Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I'll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I'll turn you back on the road by which you came.' "This will serve as a sign for you: you'll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you'll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit. Those who survive from Judah's household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively, because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD will bring this about." "Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won't approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it. He'll return on the same route by which he came he won't come to this city,' declares the LORD. "I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.'"
By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, "With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt." ""Didn't you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I've made it happen that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ""I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings and how you've become enraged at me. Your insolence has reached my ears, so I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I'll make you turn back on the road by which you came.
Assyria » Israel condemned for trusting to
Assyria » As a power, was » Proud and haughty
Assyria » Judah condemned for trusting to
Assyria » Nineveh, chief city of
Assyria » Governed by kings
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Participation in the blessings of the gospel
Assyria » Celebrated for » Fertility
Assyria » As a power, was » An instrument of God's vengeance
Assyria » Called » Shinar
Assyria » Jews carried captive to
The rest of Jehoiakim's accomplishments along with the detestable things that he did that were recorded in his disfavor are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin became king to replace him. Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, all the while doing what the LORD considered to be evil. At the beginning of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with valuable articles from the LORD's Temple, and he installed Jehoiachin's relative Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He practiced what the LORD his God considered to be evil and never humbled himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD. Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear allegiance in the name of God. Instead, he stiffened his resolve, and hardened his heart, and would not return to the LORD God of Israel. Meanwhile, all the officials who supervised the priests and the people remained unfaithful, following the detestable example of the surrounding nations. They polluted the LORD's Temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. The LORD God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence, but they mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people. Therefore he brought up the king of the Chaldeans against them, who executed their young men in the holy Temple, showing no compassion on young man or young virgin, adult men or the aged. God gave them all into the king's control, who took back to Babylon every article in God's Temple, whether large or small, including the treasuries of the LORD's Temple, the king's assets, and those of his officers. After this, they set fire to God's Temple, demolished the wall around Jerusalem, burned all of its fortified buildings, and destroyed everything of value. Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon those who survived the executions, and they served him and his descendants until the kingdom of Persia came to power. All of this fulfilled what the LORD had predicted through Jeremiah. And so the land enjoyed its Sabbaths, and the length of the land's desolation lasted until a 70-year long Sabbath had been completed.
Assyria » Chief men of, described » Eze 23:6
Assyria » Tiglath pileser king of » Took money from ahaz, but strengthened him not
Assyria » As a power, was » Unfaithful, &c
Assyria » tiglath
Assyria » Its armies invade the land of israel under pul
Assyria » An empire founded by nimrod
From there he went north to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah, along with Resen, which was located between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.
Assyria » Manasseh taken captive to
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Prayed against by hezekiah
Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren't gods but rather were the product of men's handiwork wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. Now, LORD our God, I'm praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!"
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Bought off by hezekiah
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Blasphemed the lord
Assyria » Celebrated for » Extensive commerce
Assyria » Pul king of » Brought off by menahem
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Restoration of israel from
Assyria » Prophecies of captivity of israelites in
Assyria » The greatness, extent, duration, and fall of, illustrated
The birds in the sky made nests in its boughs; all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches. All the great nations rested in its shade. "Beautiful because it was so great, with its long branches, it was rooted in many bodies of water. The cedars in God's garden could not compare to it; Fir trees could not match its boughs. The plane tree never grew branches like it, and no tree in God's garden compares to its beauty. I made it beautiful, including all of its branches; all the trees in God's garden of Eden envied it!'" "Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Because of its towering height, with its summit reaching into the clouds, and because it was haughty in its position, I turned it over to the leader of those nations, who dealt with it thoroughly. I have driven it away because of its wickedness. Foreign dictators have trimmed it down to size and abandoned it. Its branches have fallen off on mountains and in all the valleys. Its boughs have broken off in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth have moved out of its shade and abandoned it. All the birds in the sky will live among its ruins, and the wild animals will forage among its branches. As a result, none of its watered trees will grow tall, their tops will never reach to the clouds, and they'll never grow so high again, because all of them have been appointed to death in the world beneath where human beings go, that is, down to the Pit.'" "This is what the Lord GOD says: "On the day that it descended into Sheol, I shut down its water supplies, covered over its deep water, and shut down its rivers. As a result its abundant water sources dried up, and I caused Lebanon to mourn for it. All the trees of the field wilted because of it. I made the nations tremble when they heard that Assyria was falling, descending into Sheol to join those who go down into the Pit. Then all of the trees of Eden in the world below were comforted, including the choicest and best of Lebanon, all of whom were well-watered. They also went down with it into Sheol, to those who had been killed violently and to those who had trusted in its strength by living in its shadow among the nations.
Assyria » Antiquity and origin of
From there he went north to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,
Assyria » Tiglath pileser king of » Asked to aid ahaz against syria
Assyria » Shalmaneser king of » Carried israel captive
Assyria » It extended from east of the tigris
Assyria » Armies of, described
With a roar like a lion, they snarl, and like young lions, they growl; they seize their prey and then carry it off, with no one to rescue.
Assyria » Tiglath pileser king of » Ravaged israel
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Conquest of the kenites by
Assyria » Shalmaneser king of » Re-peopled samaria from assyria
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » His army destroyed by God
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Assassinated by his sons
Assyria » Sennacherib king of » Invaded judah
Assyria » Pul king of » Invaded israel
Assyria » Idolatry of, brought into samaria
Assyria » Idolatry, the religion of
Assyria » Tiglath pileser king of » Conquered syria
Assyria » Shalmaneser king of » Was conspired against by hoshea
Assyria » Shalmaneser king of » Reduced israel to tribute
Assyria » Shalmaneser king of » Imprisoned hoshea
Assyria » Watered by the river tigris
Assyria » As a power, was » Most formidable
Assyria » As a power, was » Cruel and destructive
Assyria » Israelites carried captive into
As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes. This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced. The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, "You are not to do this." Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: "Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets." But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They rejected the LORD's statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness and became meaningless themselves as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do. They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the LORD considered to be evil, thereby provoking him. As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah. But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen, so the LORD rejected all of the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence. He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people appointed Nebat's son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The Israelis practiced all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.
Assyria » Condemned for oppressing God's people
Assyria » Situated beyond the euphrates
Assyria » Predictions respecting » Conquest of syria by
Assyria » As a power, was » Intolerant and oppressive
Assyria » Called » Asshur
Assyria » As a power, was » Selfish and reserved
Assyria » Called » The land of nimrod
Assyria » Army of, destroyed by the angel of the lord
Assyria » Invaded by pharaoh-necho
Assyria » Productiveness of
Assyria » Commerce of
Assyria » The re-peopling of samaria from, completed by asnapper
Assyria » Possibly to egypt
Assyria » Alliances with, sought by judah and israel
Assyria » Israelites subject to
Honey » Abounded in » Assyria
Israel » King of » Assyria » Invades » Judah » Blasphemes
because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice. During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I'll accept whatever tribute you impose." So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD's Temple and from the treasuries in the king's palace. At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD's Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria. Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. When they called for the King, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them. Rab-shakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, "This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ""Why are you so confident? You're saying but they're only empty words "I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!' ""Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! ""Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"' ""Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? "Now then, haven't I come up apart from the LORD to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine along with you?" Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. This is what the king says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. And don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, "The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die." "But don't listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us!" Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'" But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king's order was, "Don't answer him." But Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said.