Isaiah 37:11
ESV
Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
NIV
Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?
NASB
Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?
CSB
Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
NLT
You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
KJV
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
NKJV
Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
What does Isaiah 37:11 mean?
This is part of a letter written from one king to another. Sennacherib of Assyria is warning Hezekiah of Judah. This has the tone of a cat playing with a mouse (Isaiah 36:11–15). Both men know the Assyrian army can crush Jerusalem's defenses with ease. The Assyrian forces are massive, battle-hardened, and utterly ruthless. Judah's population is huddled inside the walls of Jerusalem and powerless to defend themselves.So why the letter? Sennacherib's strategy for world domination included demoralizing every opponent. This was a favored tactic of Assyria. The nation went to great lengths to project an image of ferocious, sadistic warmongers. This intimidation was meant to avoid rebellion in conquered people, and to convince enemies they were beaten before the battle even started.
In that equation, faith in a god or religion was a wildcard. Those who believed a deity might step in to save them would be more inclined to resist. After destroying all resisters to this point, though, the Assyrians felt they had taken this argument out of the conversation. But there was something different about the history of Judah's faith in their God. Sennacherib didn't want to risk a revival of faith in Jerusalem making it harder to defeat the city. Of course, he didn't think the God of Judah was truly able to conquer Assyria without any resistance from the people, at all.
So, Sennacherib asks Hezekiah if he knows about the string of victories which Assyria has amassed. Does Hezekiah really believe his God will deliver tiny Jerusalem, after what the Assyrians have done to all the nations in all the lands? To the so-called gods of those nations?
The phrase "devoting to destruction" is significant. It was often used of the Lord's judgment of lands and peoples. It meant that nothing, not person or animal or possession would be kept by the invaders. This was a scorched-earth policy with no other motives and no negotiation. The invader would unilaterally kill and burn everyone and everything, leaving nothing behind. Sennacherib will remind Hezekiah that not a single foreign god was able to stop him from doing this.
