²³ Now then, ^[a]come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴ How then can you drive back even ^[b]one ^[c]official of the least of my master’s servants, and ^[d]rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without ^[e]the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”