36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
36:2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field,
36:3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
36:4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
36:5 You say you have strategy and military strength–but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
36:6 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
36:7 And if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”–isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?
36:8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses–if you can put riders on them!
36:9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
36:10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
36:11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
36:12 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall–who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?”
36:13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
36:14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you!
36:15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
36:16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
36:17 until I come and take you to a land like your own–a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
36:18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
36:20 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
36:21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
36:22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
36:2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great force. And he stood at the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field.
36:3 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.
36:4 And the Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this confidence in which you trust?
36:5 I say, It is but a vain word that you say, There is counsel and strength for war. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
36:6 You now have put your trust in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, which, if a man should lean on it, will go into his hand and pierce it, for so is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
36:7 And if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship only before this altar?
36:8 Now therefore give pledges to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if indeed you are able to set riders on them.
36:9 How then can you refuse one official of the least of my master’s servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
36:10 And have I now come up apart from Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
36:11 And Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people upon the wall.
36:12 But the Rab-shakeh 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, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
36:13 Then the Rab-shakeh stood and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria:
36:14 Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, because he is not able to deliver you;
36:15 Neither let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
36:16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me, and let each eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree, and let each drink the waters of his own cistern;
36:17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
36:18 Be careful lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
36:21 But they were silent and did not answer him a word, because of the commandment of the king that said, You shall not answer him.
36:22 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 the Rab-shakeh.