Isaiah 36:20
Context36:20 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
Context37:11 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
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?”