Isaiah 36:1
ESV
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
NIV
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
NASB
Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.
CSB
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
NLT
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.
KJV
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
NKJV
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
What does Isaiah 36:1 mean?
Isaiah's book now moves from poetry and prophecy to a historical telling of some events he prophesied about. Judah's King Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz, whom Isaiah served as a prophet. This moment occurs in the 14th year of King Hezekiah. He had apparently served alongside his father Ahaz for some years before becoming the sole king of Judah in 715 BC. It is now 701 BC, the year the Assyrians attacked Judah and Jerusalem.Sennacherib was king of Assyria at this time, who we know of from historical annals recorded on a prism and later discovered. Sennacherib had been king of Assyria for four years in 701 BC. He spent those first years leading his army in putting down revolts and uprisings brought on by the death of his father Sargon II in 705 BC.
Hezekiah formed an alliance with Egypt against the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:19–21; Isaiah 30:1–3) and led a group of smaller nations refusing to pay tribute to the Assyrians. In response, Sennacherib added Judah to his list of nations to re-conquer and once again bring the world into subjection to his rule.
Coming from the north, Assyria defeated one nation after another, moving south toward Judah. The Egyptians made a stand against the Assyrians at a spot west of Jerusalem, and they lost badly. Sennacherib's annals say that he laid siege to and defeated forty-six walled villages in Judah before surrounding Jerusalem. That agrees with Isaiah's report in this chapter.
