Isaiah 36:5 · KJV
“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}”
— Isaiah 36:5
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?
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.
Isaiah 36 — Context
Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. {scribe: or, secretary}
4And 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?
5I 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}
6Lo, 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.
7But 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?
Cross References
2 Kings 18:7
And the LORD was with him; {and} he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
Nehemiah 2:19-20
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard {it}, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What {is} this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
Ezekiel 17:15
But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such {things}? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man {is} strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. {is strong: Heb. is in strength} {increaseth...: Heb. strengtheneth might}
2 Kings 24:1
In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
Proverbs 21:30-31
{There is} no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
Jeremiah 52:3
For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.