Isaiah 36:9
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
Isaiah 36:9 belongs to the Assyrian king's threat against Judah during Hezekiah's reign, set in the historical account of Sennacherib's invasion and campaign against Judah. It stands within the counsel given to Hezekiah as the invasion unfolded, connected with the siege of Lachish and the assault on Jerusalem when the city was threatened. It is part of the biblical record of the Assyrian threat to Hezekiah, with no further explanation of its wording or its reference to Egypt beyond that setting in one strand of the teaching.
The verse is part of Sennacherib's attempt to frighten Judah, weaken Jerusalem, and discredit resistance to Assyria. The speaker mocks Judah's inability to turn back even the least captain among his master's servants, challenging its trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen as a basis for resistance. That challenge to reliance on Egypt's chariots and horsemen was made when Egypt's allies had already been defeated in the Assyrian campaign. In this crisis when Jerusalem was threatened, the city's deliverance came not through human power but through God's direct intervention.