Isaiah 36:19
ESV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
NIV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
NASB
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they saved Samaria from my hand?
CSB
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?
NLT
What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?
KJV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
NKJV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
What does Isaiah 36:19 mean?
Sennacherib's skillful messenger (Isaiah 36:1–3) has gone ahead of his army to Jerusalem. His goal is not bargaining but rather eroding the courage of those inside Jerusalem's walls. He has come to convince the people that their cause is hopeless. Their future is very grim. If they must, the Assyrians will lay siege to the city—and when it breaks, everyone will either be killed to taken immediately into exile. Sennacherib's has no doubt of the outcome. Yet he prefers not to waste time and troops if it can be avoided.The messenger has been shouting his propaganda in the language of the people over the wall and into the city for all who will hear. He has warned the people once more not to trust any promises from King Hezekiah that the Lord will save them from the Assyrians. After all, none of the gods of any of the nations the Assyrians have conquered were able to save them (Isaiah 36:18).
Assyria's spokesman drives home his point by giving recent examples. Hamath and Arpad were apparently cities well known to those in Judah. Hamath was in modern-day Syria, far north of Damascus, and Sennacherib's father Sargon II had re-conquered the city after it dared to rebel against Assyria. Arpad was even further north than Hamath. The location of Sepharvaim is unknown to current scholars. In all cases, though, the people of Jerusalem would have known of the cities and their local gods, and that they had fallen to these invaders.
Finally, Sennacherib's messenger brings up Samaria, the capital of the northern ten tribes of Israel. In theory, Judah's kinsman in Israel worshiped the same God they did. But the Rabshakeh asks only if the gods of the Samaritans delivered them out of the hands of the Assyrians. This reveals once more that the people of the northern ten tribes were worshiping foreign gods and idols to the extent that outsiders did not even realize they claimed the Lord as their own God.
