Isaiah 36:21
New International Version
But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

New Living Translation
But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

English Standard Version
But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

Berean Standard Bible
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

King James Bible
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

New King James Version
But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

New American Standard Bible
But they were silent and did not answer him so much as a word; for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

NASB 1995
But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

NASB 1977
But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

Legacy Standard Bible
But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

Amplified Bible
But they kept silent and did not say a word to him in reply, for King Hezekiah’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

Christian Standard Bible
But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”

American Standard Version
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they kept silent before them and no man gave him an answer, because the King commanded and said, "Do not give him an answer"

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they were silent, and none answered him a word; because the king had commanded that none should answer.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king had commanded, saying: answer him not.

English Revised Version
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They were silent and didn't say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.

Good News Translation
The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word.

International Standard Version
But the people remained silent and didn't respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, "Don't answer him."

JPS Tanakh 1917
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, saying: 'Answer him not.'

Literal Standard Version
And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, “Do not answer him.”

Majority Standard Bible
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

New American Bible
But they remained silent and did not answer at all, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

NET Bible
They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, "Don't respond to him."

New Revised Standard Version
But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

New Heart English Bible
But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."

Webster's Bible Translation
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

World English Bible
But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”

Young's Literal Translation
And they keep silent, and have not answered him a word, for a command of the king is, saying, 'Do not answer him.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
20Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” 21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.…

Cross References
Proverbs 9:7
He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.

Proverbs 9:8
Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Proverbs 26:4
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.


Treasury of Scripture

But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

2 Kings 18:26,37
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall…

Psalm 38:13-15
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth…

Psalm 39:1
To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

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Command Commanded Commandment Held Kept King's Order Peace Quiet Silent Word
Isaiah 36
1. Sennacherib invades Judah
2. Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, solicits the people to revolt
22. His words are told to Hezekiah














(21) But they held their peace . . .--Hezekiah seems to have commanded silence, as if distrustful either of the wisdom of the ambassadors or of the effect which any chance words might have upon the garrison and people of Jerusalem. As it was, the only words they had spoken (Isaiah 36:11) had made matters infinitely worse.

Verse 21. - They (i.e. the people, as in 2 Kings 18:36) held their peace. Rabshakeh's attempt to shake their fidelity had, at any rate, no manifest effect. For the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Hezekiah can scarcely have anticipated that Rabshakeh would so far depart from ordinary usage as to make a speech to "the men on the wall." But he may have been in the immediate neighbourhood, and, when apprised of the envoy's proceedings, may have sent the order. We are not to suppose that the Jewish king was at a loss for an answer. He did not choose to bandy words with an envoy who had behaved himself so outrageously.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
But [the people] remained silent
וַֽיַּחֲרִ֔ישׁוּ (way·ya·ḥă·rî·šū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 2790: To cut in, engrave, plow, devise

and did not
וְלֹֽא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

answer a word,
עָנ֥וּ (‘ā·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6030: To answer, respond

for
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

[Hezekiah]
הַמֶּ֥לֶךְ (ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

had commanded,
מִצְוַ֨ת (miṣ·waṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 4687: Commandment

“Do not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

answer him.”
תַעֲנֻֽהוּ׃ (ṯa·‘ă·nu·hū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6030: To answer, respond


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 36:21 But they remained silent and said nothing (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 36:20
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