Isaiah 36:19

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ¹  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ²  from my power? ³ 

Nu 34:8; 2Sa 8:9; 2Ki 17:5-7; 2Ki 17:24; 2Ki 18:10-12; Isa 10:9; Isa 10:10,11; Jer 49:23

¹ tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

³ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).