Isaiah 36 — Dead Sea Scrolls
22 verses • 6 variants • Columns XXVIII–XXIX of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapters 36–39 form the historical narrative section (paralleling 2 Kings 18–20). Chapter 36 recounts the Rabshakeh's speech during Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem. As prose narrative, these 22 verses tend to have fewer variants than the poetry sections. The parallel with 2 Kings 18 allows three-way textual comparison.
Notable Variants
Verse 7 has the Rabshakeh's theological argument about Hezekiah removing high places. Verse 11 has the language-switch request (Aramaic vs. Hebrew). These are preserved identically in both traditions.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXVIII, line 22
The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large force. He took his stand by the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washerman's Field.
Masoretic (WLC)
רַב־שָׁקֵה
Rabshakeh
Dead Sea Scroll
רבשקה
Rabshakeh
1QIsaiah-a writes רבשקה as one word without the maqqef of the MT. The title means 'chief cupbearer' or 'chief officer.' This spelling difference — hyphenated vs. solid — has no impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 1
Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to meet him.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 2
The Rabshakeh said to them, 'Say to Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says — What is this trust in which you are trusting?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 3
'I say — your claim of strategy and strength for war is mere talk. Now, on whom are you relying, that you have rebelled against me?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 4
'Look — you are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt! If a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to everyone who trusts in him.'
Masoretic (WLC)
מִצְרַיִם
Egypt
Dead Sea Scroll
מצרים
Egypt
Identical consonantal text. The taunt that Egypt is a 'broken reed' that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 5
'And if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God — is He not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, You must worship before this altar?'
Masoretic (WLC)
הַמִּזְבְּחוֹתָיו
his altars
Dead Sea Scroll
המזבחותיו
his altars
1QIsaiah-a writes המזבחותיו with identical consonants. The Rabshakeh's devastating argument — 'Is it not Hezekiah who removed the LORD's high places and altars?' — uses Hezekiah's reform against him, claiming that Judah's own God is angry. The irony is that Hezekiah's reform was faithful, but the Rabshakeh twists it into evidence of divine displeasure.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 6
'Now then, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses — if you can find riders for them!'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 7
'How then can you repel even a single officer among the least of my master's servants? Yet you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen!'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 8
'And have I marched against this land to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD Himself said to me: March against this land and destroy it!'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 9
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, 'Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.'
Masoretic (WLC)
אֲרָמִית
Aramaic
Dead Sea Scroll
ארמית
Aramaic
1QIsaiah-a reads ארמית identically. The request to speak in Aramaic (the diplomatic lingua franca) rather than Judahite Hebrew — so the soldiers on the wall cannot understand — is a pivotal dramatic moment. The Rabshakeh refuses, choosing psychological warfare over diplomacy. Both traditions preserve this linguistically self-aware passage.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 10
But the Rabshakeh said, 'Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men sitting on the wall — who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 11
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew: 'Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 12
'This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 13
'Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us — this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
Masoretic (WLC)
יַצִּיל
will deliver
Dead Sea Scroll
יציל
will deliver
Identical consonantal text. The Rabshakeh's challenge — 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you' — is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 14
'Do not listen to Hezekiah. For this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me, and each of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern —'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 15
'— until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 16
'Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any god of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 17
'Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?'
Masoretic (WLC)
סְפַרְוַיִם
Sepharvaim
Dead Sea Scroll
ספרוים
Sepharvaim
1QIsaiah-a writes ספרוים with plene spelling. The catalog of cities conquered by Assyria — Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim — is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 18
'Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 19
But they remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king's command was: 'Do not answer him.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 20
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIX, line 21