Isaiah 36:12
in Isaiah 36But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?
KJV
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
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This verse in Isaiah 36
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThird, Rabsaces's mockery of their response is set out: and Rabsaces said to them; urine of their feet, which flowed at their feet: they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung (Lam 4:5).
This site's exposition
Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh
on Isaiah 36:11-12
Hezekiah's officers ask Rabshakeh to use Aramaic, and to stop speaking Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall. He refuses in the crudest terms, saying his words are for the men sitting on the wall. His aim is the population over the heads of its leaders.
This site's exposition
to eat their own dung
The Rabshakeh foretells the last stage of a siege, when the starving eat and drink what the body casts off. Aquinas sets the words beside Lamentations 4:5, where those raised in crimson end among ash heaps. Hezekiah's Jerusalem was spared this.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
In order then that both our houses may be continually open to the one, and our ears to the others, let us purge away the filth from the ears of our soul. For as filth and mud close up the ears of our flesh, so do the harlot's songs, and worldly news, and debts, and the business of usury and loans, close up the ear of the mind, worse than any filth; nay rather, they do not close it up only, but also make it unclean. And they are putting dung in your ears, who tell you of these things. And that which the barbarian threatened, saying, "Ye shall eat your own dung," and what follows; this do these men also make you undergo, not in word, but in deeds; or rather, somewhat even much worse. For truly those songs are more loathsome even than all this; and what is yet worse, so far from feeling annoyance when ye hear them, ye rather laugh, when ye ought to abominate them and fly.
(Verse 11 and following) And Eliakim, Sobna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, 'Speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judahite in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.' But Rabshakeh said to them, 'Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?'
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The history related here, and in the three following chapters, is, almost in the same words contained 2 Kings 18, 19, 20. It is inserted here, to explain and confirm some of the foregoing predictions.
But Rabshakeh said, hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
That they may eat their own dung “Destined to eat their own dung” - לאכל leechol, that they may eat, as our translation literally renders it. But the Syriac reads מאכל meechol, that they may not eat, perhaps rightly, and afterward ומשתות umishshethoth, or ושתות ushethoth, to the same purpose. Seventeen of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS., ten of De Rossi’s and two of my own, read מימי meymey, the water; mine have מימי שניהם meymey sheneyhem, and write in the margin מימי רגליהם meymey regaleyhem, the water of their feet, a modest way of expressing urine.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Isaiah, as a faithful historian, records the filthy and blasphemous language of the Assyrians to mark aright the true character of the attack on Jerusalem.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee? - To Hezekiah, and to you alone. A part of my purpose is to address the people, to induce them to leave Hezekiah, and to offer no resistance to the Assyrian. To the men that sit on the wall ... - The meaning of this is, that the inhabitants of the city, if they do not surrender, will be subjected to the severest evils of famine. If they did not surrender, it was the purpose of the Assyrian to lay siege to the city, and to reduce it. But it was often the work of years to reduce and take a city. Nebuchadnezzar spent thirteen years before Tyre, and the Greeks employed ten in reducing ancient Troy. The sense here is, therefore, that unless the people could be induced to surrender to Sennacherib, they would be subjected to all the horrors of a siege, when they would be reduced to the most deplorable state of necessity and want. The idea in the whole verse is clearly expressed in the parallel place in 2Ch 32:11: ‘Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?’ In regard to the indelicacy of this passage, we may observe: 1. That the Masoretes in the Hebrew text have so pointed the words used, that in reading it the offensiveness would be considerably avoided. It is common in the Hebrew Scriptures, when a word is used in the text that is indelicate, to place another word in the margin, and the vowel-points that belong to the word in the margin are applied to the word in the text, and the word in the margin is thus commonly read. In accordance with this custom among the Jews, it is evident that more delicacy might have been observed by our translators in this, and in some other places of the Scriptures. 2. The customs, habits, and modes of expression of people in different nations and times, differ. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Did..to your master (הַאֶל) This is the interrogative form. It is therefore vowelized with a ‘hataf pattah’ (not so in our editions). Did my master send me to you two alone?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
25 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| רַב־ | rav- | [the] chief | H7262 → | 32 times |
| שָׁקֵ֗ה | shakeh | commander | H7262 → | 32 times |
| הַאֶ֨ל | hael | ¿ to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֲדֹנֶ֤יךָ | ʾadoneikha | master<s> your | H113 → | 333 times |
| וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ | veeleikha | and to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שְׁלָחַ֣נִי | shelachani | has he sent me | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אֲדֹנִ֔י | ʾadoni | master my | H113 → | 333 times |
| לְדַבֵּ֖ר | ledaber | to speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַדְּבָרִ֣ים | hadevarim | the words | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| הָאֵ֑לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| הֲלֹ֣א | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאֲנָשִׁ֗ים | haanashim | the people | H582 → | 566 times |
| הַיֹּֽשְׁבִים֙ | haiyoshevim | who sit | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַ֣חוֹמָ֔ה | hachomah | the city wall | H2346 → | 133 times |
| לֶאֱכֹ֣ל | leekhol | to eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| צוֹאָתָ֗ם | chareihem | own excrement their | H6675 → | 5 times |
| וְלִשְׁתּ֛וֹת | velishtot | and to drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מֵימֵ֥י רַגְלֵיהֶ֖ם | meimei ragleihem | [the] water of feet their | H4325 →H7272 → | 247 times |
| עִמָּכֶֽם׃ | ʾimakhem | with you | H5973 → | 1050 times |
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
רַב־[the] chief
rav-H7262 →32 times
שָׁקֵ֗הcommander
shakehH7262 →32 times
הַאֶ֨ל¿ to
haelH413 →5510 times
אֲדֹנֶ֤יךָmaster<s> your
ʾadoneikhaH113 →333 times
וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙and to you
veeleikhaH413 →5510 times
שְׁלָחַ֣נִיhas he sent me
shelachaniH7971 →845 times
אֲדֹנִ֔יmaster my
ʾadoniH113 →333 times
לְדַבֵּ֖רto speak
ledaberH1696 →1141 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַדְּבָרִ֣יםthe words
hadevarimH1697 →1440 times
הָאֵ֑לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
הֲלֹ֣א¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאֲנָשִׁ֗יםthe people
haanashimH582 →566 times
הַיֹּֽשְׁבִים֙who sit
haiyoshevimH3427 →1079 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַ֣חוֹמָ֔הthe city wall
hachomahH2346 →133 times
לֶאֱכֹ֣לto eat
leekholH398 →810 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
צוֹאָתָ֗םown excrement their
chareihemH6675 →5 times
וְלִשְׁתּ֛וֹתand to drink
velishtotH8354 →217 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מֵימֵ֥י רַגְלֵיהֶ֖ם[the] water of feet their
עִמָּכֶֽם׃with you
ʾimakhemH5973 →1050 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 19:9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:53–57
Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 5:10
As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 9:20
They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own…
- Leviticus 26:29
You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
- Deuteronomy 28:53–57
Through
Ezekiel 4:16Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:16
When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.
- Isaiah 3:1
For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
- Leviticus 26:26
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Ezekiel 5:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 37:7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.