²⁴ But even then you couldn’t beat one of my master’s lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt’s chariots and horse soldiers?

²⁵ ‘Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord’s help? No, the Lord said to me, “Go up against this country and destroy it!”’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the commander, “Please speak to us in Aramaic. We understand that language. Don’t speak to us in the language of Judah because the people on the wall will understand you.”