2 Kings 18:31

Easy-to-Read Version

Don't listen to Hezekiah! This is what the king of Assyria says: Come out here and show me that you want peace. Then you will all be free to have grapes from your own vines, figs from your own trees, and water from your own well.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and each may drink water from his own cistern

Hebrew Names Version
Don't listen to Hizkiyahu: for thus says the king of Ashshur, Make your shalom with me, and come out to me; and eat you everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern;

King James Version
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

English Standard Version
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,

New Century Version
"Don't listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well.

New English Translation
Don't listen to Hezekiah!' For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Amplified Bible
'Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: "Surrender to me and come out to [meet] me, and every man may eat from his own vine and fig tree, and every man may drink the waters of his own well,

New American Standard Bible
'Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat, each one, from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each one, the waters of his own cistern,

World English Bible
Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat you everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Hearken not vnto Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Asshur, Make appointment with me, and come out to me, that euery man may eate of his owne vine, & euery man of his owne figge tree, and drinke euery man of the water of his owne well,

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, "Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,

Berean Standard Bible
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,

Contemporary English Version
Stop listening to Hezekiah! Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't listen to Hizkiyahu.' For this is what the king of Ashur says: ‘Make peace with me, surrender to me. Then every one of you can eat from his vine and fig tree and drink the water in his own cistern;

Darby Translation
Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make peace with me, and come out to me; and eat every one of his vine and every one of his fig-tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern;

George Lamsa Translation
Do not hearken to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat every one of you of his own vine and of his own fig tree and drink every one the waters of his own cistern,

Good News Translation
Don't listen to Hezekiah. The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells—

Lexham English Bible
Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make with me a treaty of peace and come out to me that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water from his cistern!

Literal Translation
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for so says the king of Assyria, Make with me a peace treaty and come out to me; and you each shall eat of his vine, and each of his fig tree, and you each shall drink of the waters of his own well,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Folowe not ye Ezechias, for thus sayeth the kynge of Assiria: Do me this blessynge, and come forth vnto me, so shal eueryman eate of his vyne and of his fygge tre, and drynke of his well,

American Standard Version
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

Bible in Basic English
Do not give ear to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me; and everyone will be free to take the fruit of his vine and of his fig-tree, and the water of his spring;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Hearken not vnto Hezekia: For thus sayth the king of Assyria, Deale kindely with me, and come out to me, and then eate euery man of his owne vine, and of his owne figge tree, and drincke euery man of the water of his owne well,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

King James Version (1611)
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus sayth the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eate yee euery man of his owne vine, and euery one of his figge tree, and drinke yee euery one the waters of his cisterne:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
for thus says the king of the Assyrians, Gain my favour, and come forth to me, and every man shall drink of the wine of his own vine, and every man shall eat of his own fig-tree, and shall drink water out of his own cistern;

English Revised Version
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
nyle ye here Ezechie. For the kyng of Assiriens seith these thingis, Do ye with me that, that is profitable to you, and go ye out to me; and eche man schal ete of his vyner, and of his fige tree, and ye schulen drynke watris of youre cisternes,

Young's Literal Translation
`Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,

Update Bible Version
Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern;

Webster's Bible Translation
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me by a present, and come out to me, and [then] eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

New King James Version
Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: "Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

New Living Translation
"Don't listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.

New Life Bible
Do not listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria says, "Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat of his own vine and fig tree. And every one of you will drink the water of his own well.

New Revised Standard
Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, - for, thus, saith the king of Assyria, Deal with me thankfully, and come out unto me, then shall ye eat - every one of his own vine, and every one of his own fig-tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus saith the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me: and every man of you shall eat of his own vineyard, and of his own fig tree: and you shall drink water of your own cisterns,

Revised Standard Version
Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, "Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his three most important officers with a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. They left Lachish and went to Jerusalem. They stood near the aqueduct by the Upper Pool, on the street that leads up to Laundryman's Field. ¹⁸ These men called for the king, but Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah son of Asaph went out to meet them. Eliakim was the palace manager, Joah was the record keeper, and Shebna was the royal secretary. ¹⁹ The commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ‘What are you trusting in to help you? ²⁰ If you say, "I trust in power and great battle plans," then that is useless. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me? ²¹ Are you depending on Egypt to help you? Egypt is like a broken walking stick. If you lean on it for support, it will only hurt you and make a hole in your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, cannot be trusted by anyone who depends on him for help. ²² Maybe you will say, "We trust the Lord our God to help us." But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped the Lord. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem." ²³ ‘If you still want to fight my master, the king of Assyria, I will make this agreement with you. I promise that I will give you 2000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them into battle. ²⁴ But even then you couldn't beat one of my master's lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt's chariots and horse soldiers? ²⁵ ‘Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord 's help? No, the Lord said to me, "Go up against this country and destroy it!"'" ²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the commander, "Please speak to us in Aramaic. We understand that language. Don't speak to us in the language of Judah because the people on the wall will understand you."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Make an agreement with me: or, Seek my favour, Heb. Make with me a blessing, Genesis 32:20, Genesis 33:11, Proverbs 18:16

eat ye: 1 Kings 4:20, 1 Kings 4:25, Zechariah 3:10

cistern: or, pit

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 11:2 - On this 1 Kings 20:6 - and they shall search 2 Kings 17:3 - and Hoshea 2 Kings 17:24 - Ava Isaiah 33:18 - receiver Isaiah 36:16 - Make an agreement with me by a present Jeremiah 14:3 - pits

Cross-References

Genesis 18:20
Then the Lord said, "I have heard many times that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are very evil.

Genesis 18:22
So the men turned and started walking toward Sodom while Abraham stood there before the Lord .

Genesis 18:27
Then Abraham said, "Compared to you, Lord, I am only dust and ashes. But let me bother you again and ask you this question.

Matthew 7:7
"Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you.

Matthew 7:11
You people are so bad, but you still know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him.

Luke 11:8
I tell you, maybe friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread. But he will surely get up to give you what you need if you continue to ask.

Luke 18:1
Then Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. He used this story to teach them:

Ephesians 6:18
Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all of God's people.

Hebrews 4:16
With Jesus as our high priest, we can feel free to come before God's throne where there is grace. There we receive mercy and kindness to help us when we need it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Make an agreement ... - Rather, “Make peace with me.” The word, which primarily means “blessing,” and secondarily “a gift,” has also the meaning, though more rarely, of “peace.” Probably it acquired this meaning from the fact that a peace was commonly purchased by presents.

eat ... drink - A picture of a time of quiet and prosperity, a time when each man might enjoy the fruits of his land, without any fear of the spoiler’s violence. The words are in contrast with the latter part of 2 Kings 18:27.

Cistern - Rather, “well” Deuteronomy 6:11. Each cultivator in Palestine has a “well” dug in some part of his ground, from which he draws water for his own use. “Cisterns,” or reservoirs for rain-water, are comparatively rare.