Sennacherib Comes Against Jerusalem

1Now 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.

2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

3Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

4And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?

5I say, you speak (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

6Lo, you trust in the staff of this 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.

7But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar?

8Now therefore give pledges, I urge you, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.

9How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, unto your servants in the Aramiac 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.

12But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? has he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat and drink their own waste with you?

13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear you the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

14Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

15Neither let Hezekiah 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.

16Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make peace with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink you everyone the waters of his own cistern;

17Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his 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 they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

22Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.