Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh …: Hezekiah’s three officials respond to the Assyrian ambassador, asking him to speak in Aramaic, not Hebrew.

Pray, speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it: They begin with a polite request since Pray translates the Hebrew particle of entreaty. Good News Translation omits this word, but it should be expressed. Another possible rendering is “Please.” They also use the indirect expression your servants to refer to themselves. It indicates their submission to the Assyrian official. Many languages will prefer a first person reference here; for example, Good News Translation simply uses “us.” If this is done, it would be helpful to indicate their submission in some way. Contemporary English Version does it by beginning with “Sir.” Aramaic was the language of diplomacy at that time. It was the official language of Syria and was subsequently adopted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. It became the official language of the Jews when they returned from exile in Babylonia. Hebrew and Aramaic are related languages. For we understand it indicates that Hezekiah’s officials knew the Aramaic language but that the ordinary citizens of Judah did not.

Do not speak to us in the language of Judah: They request that the Assyrian ambassador stop using the language of Judah, which refers to “Hebrew” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “Judean,” which was a dialect of Hebrew.

Within the hearing of the people who are on the wall is literally “in the ears of the people who are on the wall,” which may be rendered “while the people on the wall are listening.” Hezekiah’s officials are afraid that the people on the city wall of Jerusalem will understand the Assyrian ambassador’s words and be disheartened, thereby causing difficulty for Hezekiah and his policies. The meeting between these officials and the ambassador took place in a very public space, just outside the wall of Jerusalem (see verse 2). Clearly many local people were standing on the city wall listening to the conversation. City walls were very thick, often with rooms inside them, so people could stand and walk on them. For more information on a city wall, see 2.15.

For this whole verse Contemporary English Version has “Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, ‘Sir, we don’t want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.’” Other possible models are:

• Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian ambassador, “Sir, please speak to us in Aramaic; we understand it. Don’t use Hebrew, because the people on the city wall are listening in.”

• Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah politely asked the Assyrian ambassador to speak to them in Aramaic because they understood it. They said, “Please do not speak in Hebrew, for the people on the city wall are hearing [what you are saying].”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .