Isaiah 37:8

THE MESSAGE

The Rabshekah left and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. (He had gotten word that the king had left Lachish.)

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish, he left and found him fighting against Libnah.

Hebrew Names Version
So Ravshakeh returned, and found the king of Ashshur warring against Livna; for he had heard that he was departed from Lakhish.

King James Version
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

English Standard Version
The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

New American Standard Bible
Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

New Century Version
The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. When he went back, he found the king fighting against the city of Libnah.

Amplified Bible
So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah], for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

World English Bible
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the King of Asshur fighting against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had set out from Lachish.

Berean Standard Bible
When the Rab-shakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

Contemporary English Version
Meanwhile the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.

Complete Jewish Bible
Rav-Shakeh returned and, having heard that the king of Ashur had left Lakhish, found him making war with Livnah.

Darby Translation
And Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

Easy-to-Read Version
The commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. He found him at Libnah, fighting against that city.

George Lamsa Translation
So the Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Good News Translation
The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him.

Lexham English Bible
And Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left from Lachish.

Literal Translation
So the chief of the cupbearers returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had pulled up stakes from Lachish.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now when Rabsaches returned, he founde ye kinge of Assiria layenge sege to Lobna, for he had vnderstonde, that he was departed from Lachis.

American Standard Version
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Bible in Basic English
So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah: for it had come to his ears that the king of Assyria had gone away from Lachish.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

King James Version (1611)
So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for hee had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nowe when Rabsakeh returned, he founde the kyng of Assyria laying siege to Libnas: for he had vnderstandyng that he was departed from Lachis.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
So Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachis.

English Revised Version
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Rapsaces turnede ayen, and foond the kyng of Assiriens fiytynge ayens Lobna; for he hadde herd, that the kyng was gon fro Lachis.

Update Bible Version
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

Webster's Bible Translation
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

New English Translation
When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.

New King James Version
2 Kings 19:8-19">[xr] Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.

New Living Translation
Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.

New Life Bible
Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

New Revised Standard
The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria, warring against Libnah, - for he had heard, that he had broken up from Lachish.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

Revised Standard Version
The Rab'shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

Young's Literal Translation
And Rabshakeh turneth back and findeth the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he hath heard that he hath journeyed from Lachish.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

Contextual Overview

⁸ The Rabshekah left and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. (He had gotten word that the king had left Lachish.) ⁹Just then the Assyrian king received an intelligence report on King Tirhakah of Ethiopia: "He is on his way to make war on you." On hearing that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with instructions to deliver this message: "Don't let your God , on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won't fall to the king of Assyria. Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world—one country after another devastated! And do you think you're going to get off? Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar? Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?" ¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God . ¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to God : " God -of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. Listen, O God , and hear. Look, O God , and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God. It's quite true, O God , that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. They've thrown their gods into the trash and burned them—no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods! But now step in, O God , our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are God ."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Rabshakeh: 2 Kings 19:8, 2 Kings 19:9, Numbers 33:20, Numbers 33:21

Libnah: Joshua 10:29, Joshua 10:31-34, Joshua 21:13, 2 Kings 8:22, 2 Chronicles 21:10

Lachish: Joshua 12:11, Joshua 15:39

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 32:9 - Lachish Nehemiah 11:30 - Lachish Micah 1:13 - Lachish

Cross-References

Genesis 37:3
Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn't even speak to him.

Genesis 37:28
By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.

Exodus 2:14
The man shot back: "Who do you think you are, telling us what to do? Are you going to kill me the way you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses panicked: "Word's gotten out—people know about this."

1 Samuel 17:28
Eliab, his older brother, heard David fraternizing with the men and lost his temper: "What are you doing here! Why aren't you minding your own business, tending that scrawny flock of sheep? I know what you're up to. You've come down here to see the sights, hoping for a ringside seat at a bloody battle!"

Luke 19:14
"But the citizens there hated him. So they sent a commission with a signed petition to oppose his rule: ‘We don't want this man to rule us.'

Luke 20:17
But Jesus didn't back down. "Why, then, do you think this was written: That stone the masons threw out— It's now the cornerstone!? "Anyone falling over that stone will break every bone in his body; if the stone falls on anyone, it will be a total smashup."

Acts 7:35
"This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with. "They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what's happened to him!' That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together. "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike—and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos: Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel? Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses, Worshiping them with all your might. That's why I put you in exile in Babylon. "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it. "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote, "Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax? It's already built, and I built it." "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God's Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!" At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!" Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So Rabshakeh returned,.... To the king of Assyria his master, to give him an account how things went at Jerusalem, and that he could get no direct answer from the king of Judah, and to consult with him what was proper to be done in the present situation of things; leaving the army before Jerusalem, under the command of the other two generals. For that he should take the army with him does not seem reasonable, when Hezekiah and his people were in such a panic on account of it; besides, the king of Assyria's letters to Hezekiah clearly suppose the army to be still at Jerusalem, or his menacing letters would have signified nothing; and after this the destruction of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem is related:

and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 10:29, and lay nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish, where Rabshakeh left him; so that he seemed to be drawing his army towards that city, on which his heart was set. Josephus u makes him to be at this time besieging Pelusium, a city in Egypt, but wrongly; which has led some into a mistake that Libnah and Pelusium are the same:

for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish; where he was, when he sent him to Jerusalem, Isaiah 36:2, having very probably taken it.

u Antiqu. l. 10. c. 1. sect. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So Rabshakeh returned - Returned from Jerusalem to the camp of his master. He had received no answer to his insulting message Isaiah 36:21; he saw there was no prospect that the city would surrender; and he therefore returned again to the camp.

And found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah - He had departed from Lachish. Why he had done this is unknown. It is possible that he had taken it, though this is not recorded anywhere in history. Or it is possible that he had found it impracticable to subdue it as speedily as he had desired; and had withdrawn from it for the purpose of subduing other places that would offer a more feeble resistance. Libnah was a city in the south of Judah Joshua 15:42, given to the priests, and declared a city of refuge 1Ch 6:54, 1 Chronicles 6:57. Eusebius and Jerome say it was in the district of Eleutheropolis (Calmet). It was about ten miles to the northwest of Lachish. This city was taken by Joshua, and all its inhabitants put to the sword After taking this. Joshua next assaulted and took Lachish Joshua 10:29-32.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 37:8. Rabshakeh returned — From Isaiah 36:2, we learn that the king of Assyria had sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem; now it is likely that Rabshakeh had besieged that place, and that the king of Assyria had taken his station before this city, and despatched Rabshakeh against Jerusalem. But, as in the verse above it is said, "he had departed from Lachish," probably he had been obliged to raise the siege, and sat down before Libnah, which promised an easier conquest.