2 Kings 18:19-36

19And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “1What is this confidence that you 2have? 20You say--but they are only 3empty words-I have a plan and strength for the war.’ Now on whom have you relied, 4that you have revolted against me? 21Now behold, you have 56relied on the 7support of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 8hand and pierce it. That is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. 22However, if you say to me, ‘We have trusted in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and 9whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23Now then, 10come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 24How then can you drive back even 11one 12official of the least of my master’s servants, and 13rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25Have I now come up without 14the 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, Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, because we 15understand it; and do not speak with us in 1617Judean 18so that the people who are on the wall hear you.” 27But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not also sent me to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

28Then Rabshakeh stood up and shouted with a loud voice in Judean, 19saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29This is what the king says: ‘20Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to save you from 21my hand. 30And do not let Hezekiah lead you to trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly save us, and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make 22your peace with me and come out to me, and eat, 23each one, from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each one, the waters of his own cistern, 32until I come and take you 24to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees producing oil, and of honey, so that you will live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah, because he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will save us.” 3325Has any of the gods of the nations actually saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 3426Where are the gods of Hamath and 27Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and 2829Ivvah? Have they saved Samaria from my hand? 35Who among all the gods of the lands are there who have saved their land from my hand, 30that the Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’”

36But the people were silent and did not answer him with even a word, because it was the king’s 31command: “Do not answer him.”