36
1 Now
in the fourteenth
year of King
Hezekiah, Sennacherib
king of Assyria
attacked all of
the fortified
cities of Judah
and captured them.
2 The
king of Assyria
sent Rabshakeh
from Lachish to
Jerusalem to King
Hezekiah with a
large army. He
stood by
the aqueduct from
the upper pool
in the fuller’s
field highway.
3 Then Eliakim
the son of
Hilkiah, who was
over the household,
and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah,
the son of Asaph
the recorder came
out to him.
4 Rabshakeh said
to them, “Now
tell Hezekiah, ‘The
great king, the
king of Assyria,
says, “What confidence
is this in
which you trust?
5 I
say that your
counsel and
strength for the
war are only
vain words. Now
in whom do
you trust, that
you have rebelled
against me?
6 Behold,
you trust in the
staff of this
bruised reed, even
in Egypt, which
if a man
leans on it,
it will go
into his hand
and pierce it.
So is Pharaoh
king of Egypt
to all who trust
in him.
7 But
if you tell me, ‘We
trust in the LORD
our God,’ isn’t
that he whose 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, please
make a pledge to
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 turn
away the face
of one captain
of the least
of my master’s
servants, and put
your trust in
Egypt for chariots
and for horsemen?
10 Have
I come up
now without the
LORD against
this land to
destroy it? The
LORD said to me,
“Go up against
this land, and
destroy it.” ’ ”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna
and Joah said
to Rabshakeh, “Please
speak to your
servants in Aramaic,
for we understand
it. Don’t speak to
us in the Jews’
language 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, who
will eat their own
dung and drink
their own urine
with you?”
13 Then
Rabshakeh stood,
and called out
with a loud
voice in the Jews’
language, and said,
“Hear the words
of the great
king, the king
of Assyria!
14 The
king says, ‘Don’t
let Hezekiah
deceive you; for
he will not
be able to
deliver you.
15 Don’t let
Hezekiah make
you trust in the
LORD, saying, “The
LORD will surely
deliver us. This
city won’t be
given into the
hand of the
king of Assyria.” ’
16 Don’t
listen to Hezekiah,
for the king
of Assyria says, ‘Make
your peace with
me, and come
out to me;
and each of
you eat from his
vine, and each
one from his
fig tree, and
each one of
you drink the
waters 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
lest Hezekiah
persuade you, saying, “The
LORD will deliver
us.” Have any of
the gods of the
nations delivered
their lands from
the hand of
the king
of Assyria?
19 Where
are the gods of
Hamath and Arpad?
Where are the gods
of Sepharvaim?
Have they
delivered Samaria
from my hand?
20 Who
are they among
all the gods of
these countries that
have delivered
their country out
of my hand,
that the LORD
should deliver
Jerusalem out of
my hand?’ ”
21 But
they remained
silent, and said
nothing in reply,
for the king’s
commandment was, “Don’t
answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim
the son of
Hilkiah, who was
over the household,
and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah,
the son of Asaph
the recorder, came
to Hezekiah with
their clothes torn,
and told him
the words of
Rabshakeh.