And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah [that] Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
And the king of Assyria sent Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a strong force. And he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.
Then came forth to him Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest?
I say [sayest thou], Counsel and strength for the war [are but] a word of the lips. Now on whom trustest thou that hast revolted against me?
Behold, thou trustest on the staff of that broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him.
But if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God: [is it] not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
And now, I pray thee, engage with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants? And thou trustest in Egypt for horses and chariots!
And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
And Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rab-shakeh, Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in Syrian, for we understand [it]; and speak not to us in the Jewish [language] in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall.
And Rab-shakeh said, [Is it] to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? [Is it] not to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
And Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish [language] and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you;
neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will certainly deliver us: this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one of his cistern;
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Let not Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where [are] the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who [are they] among all the gods of these countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
And they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s command was, saying, Answer him not.
And Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.