Yesaya 36:2

36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ¹  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ²  along with a large army. The chief adviser ³  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ⁴ 

Yesaya 36:11-12

36:11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ⁵  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ⁶  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 36:12 But the chief adviser said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ⁷  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!” ⁸ 

Yesaya 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ⁹  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ¹⁰  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ¹¹ 

[36:2]  ¹ sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

[36:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:2]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[36:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[36:11]  ⁵ sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the Assyrian empire.

[36:11]  ⁶ tn Or “in Hebrew” (NIV, NCV, NLT); NAB, NASB “in Judean.”

[36:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “To your master and to you did my master send me to speak these words?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer.

[36:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “[Is it] not [also] to the men…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, it is.”

[36:12]  sn The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking anything to stay alive.

[37:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”