2 Kings 18:13-37

131Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “2I have done wrong. 3Withdraw from me; whatever you 4impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria 5required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 156Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17Then the king of Assyria sent 7Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the 8conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the 9fuller’s field. 18When they called to the king, 10Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and 11Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

19Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “12What is this confidence that you 13have? 20You say (but they are 14only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, 15that you have rebelled against me? 21Now behold, you 1617rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 18hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and 19whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23Now therefore, 20come, 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. 24How then can you 21repulse one 22official of the least of my master’s servants, and 23rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25Have I now come up 24without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we 25understand it; and do not speak with us in 2627Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27But Rabshakeh said to them, “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?”

28Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, 28saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29Thus says the king, ‘29Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from 30my hand; 30nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “31Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat 32each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 32until I come and take you away 33to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” 3334Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 3435Where are the gods of Hamath and 36Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and 3738Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35Who among all the gods of the lands 39have delivered their land from my hand, 40that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

36But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 37Then 41Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah 42with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.