Isaiah 36:19-20

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  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?’” ⁴ 

Isaiah 37:10-13

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 37:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ⁵  Do you really think you will be rescued? ⁶  37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors ⁷  destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ⁸  37:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, ⁹  Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

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).

⁴ 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?

⁵ tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”

⁶ tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”

⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”

⁸ 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?”

⁹ sn Lair was a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.