Isaiah 36:6 — Meaning and Application

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence {is} this wherein thou trustest?

I say, {sayest thou}, (but {they are but} vain words) {I have} counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? {vain...: Heb. a word of lips} {I have...: or, but counsel and strength are for the war}

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so {is} Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: {is it} not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. {pledges: or, hostages}