Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezeki'ah, that Sennach'erib king of Assyria came up against all the defensed cities of Judah, and took them.
And the king of Assyria sent Rab–sha'keh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezeki'ah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
¶ And Rab–sha'keh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezeki'ah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon 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 the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezeki'ah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to 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.
¶ Then said Eli'akim and Shebna and Jo'ah unto Rab–sha'keh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
But Rab–sha'keh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
Neither let Hezeki'ah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezeki'ah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, 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 the waters of his own cistern;
Beware lest Hezeki'ah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Then came Eli'akim, the son of Hilki'ah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Jo'ah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezeki'ah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab–sha'keh.
