1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
2And Sennacherib sent his Rabshakeh (field commander) from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. And he stood by the conduit (aqueduct) of the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field.
3Then Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, the palace administrator, Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder, came out to him.
4And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria. “What do you base your confidence in?
5Do you think that mere words can stand against my military power and strategy, that you rebel against me?”
6Look, I know you rely on Egypt, which, if a man leans on that reed, it will break, and pierce his hand; so it is with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, for any who trust in him.
7But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God”: is He not the One Whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?
8Come now, work out an agreement with 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.
9How can you have any hope to repulse even one captain of my master's army, by relying on your tiny army and chariots and horsemen from Egypt?
10And furthermore, do you think we have invaded this land to destroy it without counsel from the LORD?’” The LORD, Himself, told me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it’. The argument posed by Sennacherib and his field commander in verse 7 indicates that they had heard of the reformation that Hezekiah had initiated in destroying the idolatrous groves and altars which had been set up in the land by his father, Ahaz; and to their pagan mind, all altars in the land were dedicated to God, and so he assumed that Hezekiah had diminished his claim for protection from God., when, indeed, Hezekiah’s actions had, if anything, strengthened his claim. The aim of all these arguments, including verse 10, is to weaken Israels resolve to resist and to accept Assyria terms of surrender.
11Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic (Syrian) language; we understand it; and not in the Jews' language, within the hearing of the defenders on the wall”.
12But the Rabshakeh said, “Had my master sent me to only speak these words to you and to your master? Has he not sent me also to these men that sit upon the wall, that they may have to eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?”
13Then the Rabshakeh stood, and shouted aloud in the Jews' language, “Hear these words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he cannot defend you.
15Nor let Hezekiah cause you to trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
16Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me, and come out to me; and you will each eat of his own vine, and his own fig tree, and drink water of your own cistern (well),
17Until I come and take you away to a land much like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Beware that Hezekiah does not persuade you, by saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have any of the gods of any of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who are they, among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21But the people held their peace, and did not answer him a word; for the king's commandment was, “Do not answer him”.
22Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, 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 Rabshakeh. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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