Isaiah 36:20

36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ¹ 

Isaiah 37:11-12

37:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ²  Do you really think you will be rescued? ³  37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors ⁴  destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

² tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”

³ tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”

⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”

⁵ tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”