[1]utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? 15Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither believe ye him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your [2]God deliver you out of mine hand? 16And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah. 17He wrote also [3]letters, to rail on the LORD, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand. 18And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city. 19And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands. 20And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. 21And the LORD sent
17. to rail on] Or, to defy (the same Heb. word as in 2 Kin. xix. 4, 16, 22, 33, and there rendered "reproach").
18. in the Jews' language] i.e. in Hebrew. From the parallel passage, 2 Kin. xviii. 26 ff., it is evident that the language of diplomacy at this time in Western Asia was Aramaic ("Syrian," 2 Kin.); and that, whilst understood by the Jewish leaders and officials, it was not yet intelligible to the common people. In the negotiations the Rabshakeh showed clearly that his object was not to treat with Hezekiah, but to excite a revolt among the Jews against Hezekiah and so gain possession of the city.
19. the God of Jerusalem] For this designation cp. Ps. cxxxv. 21.
20—23 (cp. 2 Kin. xix. 1—4, 14—19, 35—37). Hezekiah and Isaiah pray. The Deliverance.
This section is a very brief summary of 2 Kin. xix.
20. And Hezekiah . . . and Isaiah . . . prayed] According to Kings, Hezekiah prayed, and was answered by God through the medium of a message delivered by Isaiah the prophet (2 Kin. xix. 20—34).
heaven] Here used reverently for "God"; cp. xxviii. 9; Dan. iv. 26; Luke xv. 21.
