⁵ So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants^(A) and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.”

³² Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says: ‘Please let me live.’”

The king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

⁴ The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.”

¹¹ And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; make a treaty with us.”’

¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^(A) “I have done wrong.^(B) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents^[b] of gold.

⁸ “We are your servants,^(A)” they said to Joshua.

But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.^(A) My Father will honor the one who serves me.

¹⁷ Do not listen^(A) to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live.^(B) Why should this city become a ruin?

⁷ All nations will serve^(A) him and his son and his grandson until the time^(B) for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate^(C) him.

⁸ “‘“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish^(D) that nation with the sword,^(E) famine^(F) and plague,^(G) declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand.

²⁴ They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told^(A) how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. ²⁵ We are now in your hands.^(B) Do to us whatever seems good and right^(C) to you.”