1 A2 Kin 18:13Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, B2 Chr 32:1Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the A2 Kin 18:17-20:11; 2 Chr 32:9-24; Is 36:2-38:8king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the BIs 7:3conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the 1I.e. launderer’sfuller’s field. 3 Then AIs 22:20Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and BIs 22:15Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

4 Then A2 Kin 18:19Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you 1Lit trusthave? 5  “I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only 1Lit words of lipsempty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that A2 Kin 18:7you have rebelled against me? 6  “Behold, you rely on the AEzek 29:6, 7staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his 1Lit palmhand and pierce it. BPs 146:3; Is 30:3, 5, 7So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7  “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Loʀᴅ our God,’ is it not He ADeut 12:2-5; 2 Kin 18:4, 5whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8  “Now therefore, 1Lit please exchange pledgescome make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9  “How then can you 1Lit turn away the face ofrepulse one 2Or governorofficial of the least of my master’s servants and 3Lit rely on for yourselfAIs 20:5; 30:2-5, 7; 31:3rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10  “Have I now come up 1Lit without the Loʀᴅwithout the Loʀᴅ’s approval against this land to destroy it? A1 Kin 13:18; 22:6, 12The Loʀᴅ said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”

11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in AEzra 4:7; Dan 2:4Aramaic, for we 1Lit hearunderstand it; and do not speak with us in 2I.e. HebrewBIs 36:13Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

13 Then Rabshakeh stood and A2 Chr 32:18cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14  “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah AIs 37:10deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you AIs 36:18, 20; 37:10, 11trust in the Loʀᴅ, saying, “The Loʀᴅ will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16  ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘1Lit Make with me a blessingMake your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his A1 Kin 4:25; Mic 4:4; Zech 3:10vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the BProv 5:15waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18  ‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “AIs 36:15The Loʀᴅ will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19  ‘Where are the gods of AIs 10:9-11; 37:11-13; Jer 49:23Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of AIs 10:9-11; 37:11-13; Jer 49:23Sepharvaim? And when have they B2 Kin 17:6delivered Samaria from my hand? 20  ‘Who among all the A1 Kin 20:23, 28gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the BIs 36:15Loʀᴅ would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

21 But they were silent and AProv 9:7, 8; 26:4answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then AIs 22:20; 36:3Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and BIs 22:15Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.