¹⁸ The Assyrian officials who brought the letters shouted this in Hebrew^[a] to the people gathered on the walls of the city, trying to terrify them so it would be easier to capture the city.

¹³ Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!

⁹ They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.^[a]

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,^[a] for the people on the wall will hear.”

²⁷ But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

²⁸ Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!

²⁶ David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”

¹⁰ I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!”