Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 36

Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 36

King Hezekiah, in the fourteenth year,

his reign, of it, was when their king appeared,

Assyria’s, named King Sennacherib,

and, those of Judah, how he captured them,

its cities, fortified, he came against.

The king, Assyrian, from Lachish sent

the Rabshakeh, who was, among them, chief

the cupbearers, to Hezekiah, King,

with a great army.  To the Fuller’s Field,

the highway, there, upon, was where he stood

nearby its conduit, the upper pool’s.

There, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah,

the master of the palace who he was

with Shebna, secretary of the state,

and Joah, Asaph’s son, the herald, named,

met with the Rabshakeh, there, at that place.

The Rabshakeh then said these words to them,

“Tell Hezekiah: Thus says the great king,

Assyria, the king of: On what do

you base this groundless confidence of yours?

As strategy, do you think your mere words

will pass for that, or power sure for war?

On whom now is it that you will rely

that you, ‘gainst me, rebelled and, me, defied?

On Egypt? Egypt is a splintered reed

that pierces it, the hand of him who leans

upon it. That is Pharaoh, Egypt’s king.

How he is to all who rely on him.

But if you say to me, ‘The LORD, our God,

on him whom we rely,’ that would be odd,

because the places, high, that he removed,

how Hezekiah took the alters too,

and said to Judah and Jerusalem,

‘Before this altar, you shall worship’? Come,

now make a wager with my lord, the king,

Assyrian, if out here you can bring

for them sufficient riders, I will give

two thousand horses to you as I live.

How then, could you repulse a single one

of them, a captain, who’s the least among

my master’s servants, Egypt, when, on them,

how you, for horsemen, chariots, depend.

Moreover, how is it that I have come?

Is it, without the LORD, that I destroy,

come up against this land, so that I may?

The LORD said to me, ‘Up, against this land,

now go and, it, destroy.’”  Eliakim,

then, Shebna and Joah, said this to him,

“Please to us, just, in Aramaic, speak

because, your servants understand it, we.

In Judah’s language, to us not at all,

in earshot of the people on the wall

speak to us,” but the Rabshakeh then said,

“Has not my master, me, to speak, here, sent,

these words, to both your master and to you,

and not as well to all those who are doomed,

all of those people sitting on the wall,

with you, to your own excrement consume,

and your own urine, drink, do that you will.”

Then, from his feet, Rabshakeh upwards stood

and called out in a voice that he made loud

in Judah’s language (they knew what he said),

“Now listen to the words of the great king,

Assyria, the king of, I, you, bring.

Do not let Hezekiah, you, deceive,

for powerless to save you, he will be.

Do not let Hezekiah, you, persuade

to, on the LORD, rely; this, what he’ll say:

‘The LORD, deliver us, will certainly,

the city won’t be given to the king,

Assyria, of, to his hand, you’ll see.’

To Hezekiah, give no listening,

for this, says, of Assyria, the king:

Make your peace with me and come out to me

then everyone of you, how you will eat?

From your own vine and from your own fig tree,

and water from your cistern, own, to drink

until I come and, you, away, I’ll take,

a land, to, that is just like your own land,

a land of grain and wine, a land of bread

and vineyards.  Do not let him, you, mislead,

when Hezekiah tells you that, ‘The LORD

will save us.’  Of the other nations’ gods,

has any ever saved from the king’s hands,

those of Assyria?  Where are the gods

of Hammath, missing too, those of Arpad?

Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they,

Samaria, from clutches, my, yet saved?

All of the countries’ gods, among them, who

have, from my clutches, saved their countries, doomed?

Then how, the LORD, will, save Jerusalem,

from, clutches, my, now-threatening.”

But they were silent and they answered him,

a single word, not, on the king’s command,

which was, “Do not, an answer, give to him.”

Eliakim, then, son of Hilkiah,

who, at the palace, where he was in charge,

and Shebna, who, the secretary, was,

and too, the herald, Asaph’s son, Joah

came, Hezekiah, to, with their clothes torn

and, of the Rabshakeh, told him the words.