NET Bible
"Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?"
— Isaiah 36:5, NET Bible
“I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?”
“I say, thy counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? ”
“I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?”
“Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?”
“You say you have a design and strength for war, but these are only words: now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority?”
“I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?”
The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.
Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him.
The chief adviser said to them,“Tell Hezekiah:‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says:“What is your source of confidence?
Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?
Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!
Perhaps you will tell me,‘We are trusting in the LORD our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem,‘You must worship at this altar.’
Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.