But if ye say. — The address seems to turn abruptly from Hezekiah to his ministers, and to the garrison of Jerusalem in general. But the LXX., Syriac, Arabic, and Isaiah 36:7 have the singular, “But if thou say,” which is probably original. (Hezekiah is presently mentioned in the third person, to avoid ambiguity.)
In the Lord our God. — The emphatic words of the clause.
Whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away. — This is just the construction which a heathen would naturally put on Hezekiah’s abolition of the local sanctuaries. (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chronicles 31:1.) The Assyrians would appear to have heard of Hezekiah’s reformation, As he was a vassal of the great king, no doubt his proceedings were watched with jealous interest.
Ye shall worship... in Jerusalem? — Literally, Before this altar shall ye worship, at Jerusalem. The great altar of burnt offering was to be the one altar, and Jerusalem the one city, where Jehovah might be worshipped.