Isaiah 36:20
ESV
Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’"
NIV
Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
NASB
Who among all the gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’?'
CSB
Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?"
NLT
What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?'
KJV
Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
NKJV
Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”
What does Isaiah 36:20 mean?
Sennacherib's military messenger (Isaiah 36:1–3) has made a devastating case to the people inside the walls of Jerusalem. He has attacked every possible hope they might have of ending this encounter with anything other than death or surrender. Using questions instead of statements, this Rabshakeh has repeatedly brought up the idea of "trust" (Isaiah 36:4–7, 15). According to this field commander, no one Judah might have relied on is reliable. Not Egypt, not their own king, and certainly not their God.The finale of this propaganda speech points to recent history: no god of any nation has turned away the Assyrian army. In that era, battle victories were seen as definitive proof of one god's power over another. Since Assyria had conquered all the northern tribes, and was now about to claim Judah, what reason would there be to think the Israelite God was any better? Either that God does not exist, or He has no power, it would seem.
What Sennacherib and his officers don't realize is that there's another explanation for these events. Namely, that God had allowed His people to suffer these things because they refused to fully trust and honor Him. The issue is not that Judah claimed a weak idol, but that the almighty God they were supposed to depend on was correcting their unfaithfulness.
The following chapter will reveal how God explains this to the people inside Jerusalem. Following that comes a demonstration of how devastating the power of the Lord can be (Isaiah 37).
