以赛亚书 36:12

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

但拉伯沙基說：“我主差派我來，只是對你和你的主說這些話嗎？不也是對那些坐在城牆上，要和你們一同吃自己的糞、喝自己的尿的人說嗎？”

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
拉 伯 沙 基 说 ： 我 主 差 遣 我 来 ， 岂 是 单 对 你 和 你 的 主 说 这 些 话 麽 ？ 不 也 是 对 这 些 坐 在 城 上 、 要 与 你 们 一 同 吃 自 己 粪 喝 自 己 尿 的 人 说 麽 ？

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew, because the people on the city wall can hear you." ¹² But the commander said, "My master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. He sent me to speak also to those people sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you." ¹³ Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria says, ¹⁴ The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you, because he can't save you. ¹⁵ Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely save us. This city won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.' ¹⁶ "Don't listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well. ¹⁷ After that I will come and take you to a land like your own—a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.' ¹⁸ "Don't let Hezekiah fool you, saying, ‘The Lord will save us.' Has a god of any other nation saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? They did not save Samaria from my power. ²⁰ Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that they may: Isaiah 9:20, Leviticus 26:29, Deuteronomy 28:53-57, 2 Kings 6:25-29, 2 Kings 18:27, Jeremiah 19:9, Lamentations 4:9, Lamentations 4:10, Ezekiel 4:16

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:26 - in the Syrian language 2 Chronicles 32:11 - to give over Nehemiah 4:5 - before the builders Psalms 80:6 - our enemies Isaiah 3:1 - the Lord Isaiah 37:25 - with the sole

Cross-References

Genesis 14:7
Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). They defeated all the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.

Genesis 36:2
Esau married women from the land of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite;

Genesis 36:8
So Esau lived in the mountains of Edom. (Esau is also named Edom.)

Genesis 36:9
This is the family history of Esau. He is the ancestor of the Edomites, who live in the mountains of Edom.

Genesis 36:16
Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the leaders that came from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Adah.

Genesis 36:17
Esau's son Reuel was the father of these leaders: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the leaders that came from Reuel in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.

Genesis 36:18
Esau's wife Oholibamah gave birth to these leaders: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the leaders that came from Esau's wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.

Genesis 36:19
These were the sons of Esau (also called Edom), and these were their leaders.

Genesis 36:20
These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

Genesis 36:22
The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam. (Timna was Lotan's sister.)

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But Rabshakeh said, hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?.... That is, to them only, that he should use a language only understood by them:

hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall; and therefore it is proper to speak in a language which they understand, and to let them know that if they will not surrender up the city, but will attempt to hold out a siege, they must expect

that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? suggesting that they must expect a close siege, which would not be broke up until the city was taken; the consequence of which would be such a famine, that they would be reduced to such extremities. The Jews have substituted other words in the margin, instead of those in the text, as more cleanly, and less offensive; for "dung" they put "excrement", and for "piss" they read "the waters of the feet"; and had we in our version put excrement and urine instead of these words, it would have been more decent.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee? - To Hezekiah, and to you alone. A part of my purpose is to address the people, to induce them to leave Hezekiah, and to offer no resistance to the Assyrian.

To the men that sit on the wall ... - The meaning of this is, that the inhabitants of the city, if they do not surrender, will be subjected to the severest evils of famine. If they did not surrender, it was the purpose of the Assyrian to lay siege to the city, and to reduce it. But it was often the work of years to reduce and take a city. Nebuchadnezzar spent thirteen years before Tyre, and the Greeks employed ten in reducing ancient Troy. The sense here is, therefore, that unless the people could be induced to surrender to Sennacherib, they would be subjected to all the horrors of a siege, when they would be reduced to the most deplorable state of necessity and want. The idea in the whole verse is clearly expressed in the parallel place in 2 Chronicles 32:11 : ‘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?’ In regard to the indelicacy of this passage, we may observe:

1. That the Masoretes in the Hebrew text have so pointed the words used, that in reading it the offensiveness would be considerably avoided. It is common in the Hebrew Scriptures, when a word is used in the text that is indelicate, to place another word in the margin, and the vowel-points that belong to the word in the margin are applied to the word in the text, and the word in the margin is thus commonly read. In accordance with this custom among the Jews, it is evident that more delicacy might have been observed by our translators in this, and in some other places of the Scriptures.

2. The customs, habits, and modes of expression of people in different nations and times, differ. What appears indelicate at one time or in one country, may not only be tolerated, but common in another. Many things are esteemed indelicate among us which are not so in polite and refined France; many expressions are so regarded now which were not in the time when the Bible was translated into English. Many things may be to us offensive which were not so to the Syrians, the Babylonians, and the Jews; and many modes of expression which are common now, and consistent with all our notions of refinement, may appear improper in some other period of the world. There are many things in Shakespere, and in most of the Old English writers, which cannot now be read without a blush. Yet need I say that those expressions will be heard with unconcern in the theater by those whose delicacy is most offended by some expression in the Bible? There are things infinitely more offensive to delicacy in Byron, and Moore, and even Burns, than there are in the Scriptures; and yet are these not read without a murmur by those who make the loudest complaints of the slightest departure from delicacy in the Bible?

3. There is another remark to be made in regard to this. Isaiah is not at all responsible for the indelicacy of the language here. He is simply a historian. He did not say it; nor is he responsible for it. If there is indelicacy in it, it is not in recording it, but in saying it; and the responsibility is on Rabshakeh. If Isaiah undertook to make a record of an important transaction, what right had he to abridge it, or contract it, or to make it different from what it was?

4. And again: it was of importance to give the true character of the attack which was made on Jerusalem. The coming of Sennacherib was attended with pride, and insolence, and blasphemy; and it was important to state the true character of the transaction. and to record just what was said and done. Hence, Isaiah, as a faithful historian, recorded the coming of the Assyrians; the expressions of their haughtiness, insolence, and pride; their vain boasting, and their reproaches of Yahweh; and for the same reason he has recorded the gross and indelicate language which they used to add to the trials of the Jews. Let him who used the language, and not him who recorded it, bear the blame.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 36:12. That they may eat their own dung - "Destined to eat their own dung"] לאכל leechol, that they may eat, as our translation literally renders it. But the Syriac reads מאכל meechol, that they may not eat, perhaps rightly, and afterward ומשתות umishshethoth, or ושתות ushethoth, to the same purpose. Seventeen of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., ten of De Rossi's and two of my own, read מימי meymey, the water; mine have מימי שניהם meymey sheneyhem, and write in the margin מימי רגליהם meymey regaleyhem, the water of their feet, a modest way of expressing urine.