以賽亞書
36 Pendant la quatorzième année du règne d’Ézékias, le roi d’Assyrie, Sennakérib, vint attaquer toutes les villes fortifiées du royaume de Juda et s’en empara. 2Alors qu’il se trouvait à Lakich, il envoya son aide de camp au roi Ézékias, à Jérusalem. L’aide de camp était à la tête d’une troupe importante. Il se plaça près du canal du réservoir supérieur, sur la route qui mène au champ des Blanchisseurs. 3Alors Éliaquim, fils de Hilquia et chef du palais royal, sortit de la ville à sa rencontre, accompagné du secrétaire Chebna et de Yoa, fils d’Assaf et porte-parole du roi.L’aide de camp assyrien leur dit:
4«Allez transmettre à Ézékias ce message du Grand Roi, le roi d’Assyrie: ‹Quelle belle confiance tu as là! 5Tu t’imagines que de simples paroles tiennent lieu de plan de bataille et de courage pour faire la guerre. Sur qui comptes-tu pour oser te révolter contre moi? 6Sur l’Égypte? Sur ce roseau cassé qui transperce la main de quiconque s’y appuie? Voilà ce que vaut le *Pharaon, roi d’Égypte, pour tous ceux qui comptent sur lui! 7Tu vas sans doute me répondre que vous comptez sur le Seigneur votre Dieu. Mais tu as précisément supprimé ses lieux sacrés et ses *autels, en ordonnant aux gens de Juda et de Jérusalem de ne rendre leur culte que devant l’autel de cette ville!›
8«Eh bien, fais donc un pari avec mon maître, le roi d’Assyrie: je suis prêt à te fournir 2 000 chevaux, si tu peux trouver des cavaliers pour les monter. 9Mais comment pourrais-tu faire tourner le dos à un seul officier de mon maître, même parmi les moindres? Et tu comptes sur l’Égypte pour obtenir des chars et des chevaux! 10D’ailleurs, mon maître est-il venu attaquer ce pays et le dévaster sans que le Seigneur l’ait voulu? Pas du tout! C’est le Seigneur lui-même qui lui en a donné l’ordre!»
11Alors Éliaquim, Chebna et Yoa demandèrent à l’aide de camp assyrien: «Parle-nous en araméen s’il te plaît, nous le comprenons. Évite de t’adresser à nous en hébreu, à cause de tous les gens qui sont sur la muraille en train de nous écouter.» 12Mais l’aide de camp répondit: «Croyez-vous que le message de mon maître soit destiné seulement à votre maître et à vous? Il concerne aussi tous ces gens qui se tiennent sur la muraille, et qui, comme vous, n’auront bientôt plus que leurs excréments à manger et leur urine à boire.» 13Puis l’aide de camp se dressa et cria de toutes ses forces en hébreu: «Écoutez le message du Grand Roi, le roi d’Assyrie: 14‹Ne vous laissez pas tromper par Ézékias: il est incapable de vous tirer d’affaire. 15Il prétend qu’il faut faire confiance au Seigneur, que celui-ci vous sauvera sûrement et m’empêchera de prendre cette ville. N’en croyez rien. 16N’écoutez pas Ézékias, écoutez plutôt ce que je vous propose, moi le roi d’Assyrie: cessez toute résistance et rendez-vous à moi. Alors chacun de vous pourra profiter de sa vigne, de son figuier et de l’eau de sa citerne. 17Plus tard, je viendrai pour vous emmener dans un pays comme le vôtre, un pays riche en blé pour le pain et en vignes pour le vin. 18Ne vous laissez donc pas égarer par Ézékias lorsqu’il prétend que le Seigneur vous sauvera. Les dieux des autres nations m’ont-ils empêché de mettre la main, sur leur pays? 19Qu’ont-ils fait, les dieux de Hamat et d’Arpad? Et ceux de Sefarvaïm? Quelqu’un m’a-t-il empêché de prendre Samarie? 20Parmi tous ces dieux, aucun n’a pu m’interdire de mettre la main sur son pays. Comment le Seigneur m’empêcherait-il alors de prendre Jérusalem?›»
21Tous ceux qui étaient là gardèrent le silence; ils ne répondirent pas un mot, car tel était l’ordre du roi Ézékias. 22Puis Éliaquim, fils de Hilquia et chef du palais royal, le secrétaire Chebna et Yoa, fils d’Assaf et porte-parole du roi, après avoir *déchiré leurs vêtements, revinrent auprès d’Ézékias et lui rapportèrent ce que l’aide de camp assyrien avait déclaré.
英文版
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 4And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours? 5Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7But if you say to me, “We rely on the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. 9How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ” 11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Pray, speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern; 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ” 21But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
According to Assyrian chronology Sennacherib’s invasion of Palestine occurred in 701 b.cThe narrative re-appears almost word for word in 2 Kings 18:13–20:19, but the detail in 2 Kings 18:14–16 has been left out:
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
According to 2 Kings 18:7, Hezekiah led a heroic rebellion against the Assyrians and now King Sennacherib (704–681 b.c.) was provoked. Here he camped at Lachish (the modern Tell ed-Duweir), southwest of Jerusalem and sent men to king Hezekiah. The beginning of v.4 is the mocking speech of Rabshakeh, “Thus says the great king…On what do you rest this confidence of yours?” This is full of prophetic overtones and Isianic in tradition, but should be understood as a parody of YHWH’s speech here.
Reliance on Egypt was condemned by Isaiah himself: Salvation comes neither from manpower nor from Egyptian horses and chariots, but from the Lord (30:1; 31:1).
Also, in v.10, Assyria is said to be acting under God’s instructions, a point made elsewhere in Isaiah (10:5-6; 7:17-20).
v.11, Realizing that the words of the Rabshakeh will only cause terror and consternation in the hearts of the men who hear them, the envoys of Hezekiah request Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic. The irony is that Aramaic at this time was the common language of diplomacy, but the Assyrian envoy insisted on speaking Hebrew, the language of Judah, which everyone understands, and moreover speaking it “in a loud voice” (v. 13) for everyone to hear, “Is it unto thy master there hath sent me my master?” No. The message of Sennacherib was to be addressed to the ordinary men of the city, who were then sitting on the walls in order that they might know the severity of the famine to come: “Let not Hezekiah engages in deception upon you”. This was as effective a humiliation as can be imagined. Hezekiah’s officials are by-passed completely. In addition, Rabshakeh commands the city of God to listen to his king, the man who sat upon the throne of the would-be ecumenical empire. “Who among all the gods of these lands,” he asks, “delivered their land from my hand? All of these lands had gods- impotent to deliver.”
Rabshakeh’s address to the men on the wall did not have the desired effect, nor because they were muted by his arrogant speech, but because Hezekiah has commanded silence. Now the message certainly disturbed Judah’s envoys to the effect that they tore their garments as they came back to King Hezekiah, only later on to prove Rabshakeh wrong in his complacent prediction. For in His own time, God would permit His city to be delivered into the hands of another representative of the world kingdom, the Babylon.
I feel the narrative in this chapter very powerful. Just as our confidence in God is usually bolstered by God’s visible glory and grace that go hand-in-hand with our Christian life, let’s ask ourselves, how could we face situations when God’s protection seems no longer and when we are threatened by those who are hostile against our faith? Do we know when to be silent, like Hezekiah was, and when to be indignant, like his envoys were? Is our emotional reaction reflecting our faith in Him or doubts about Him? Do you worry our situations more or do you worry about God’s honor more? —Wait, I thought God’s honor is God’s own business; we do not have to worry about that. After all, worrying is not a godly thing.
林德貝克的贈言 Patrimoine de Lindbeck 
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After all, worrying is not a godly thing.