The Royal Spokesman’s Speech

¹⁹ Then^(A) the royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: ‘What are you relying on?^{[a](B) 20} You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on so that you have rebelled against me?^{(C) 21} Now look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff^(D) that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it.^(E) This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. ²² Suppose you say to me, “We rely on the Lord our God.” Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed,^(F) saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem”?’

²³ “So now, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! ²⁴ How then can you drive back a single officer^(G) among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ Now, have I attacked this place to destroy it without the Lord’s approval?^(H) The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(I) since we understand it. Don’t speak with us in Hebrew^[b] within earshot of the people on the wall.”

²⁷ But the royal spokesman said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you? Hasn’t he also sent me to the men who sit on the wall, destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?” ^(J)

²⁸ The royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive^(K) you; he can’t rescue you from my power.^{(L) 30} Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord by saying, “Certainly the Lord will rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”’^(M)

³¹ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make peace^[c] with me and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree,^(N) and each may drink water from his own cistern ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey^(O)—so that you may live^(P) and not die. But don’t listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will rescue us.” ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations ever rescued^(Q) his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?^[d] Have they rescued Samaria from my power?^{(R) 35} Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ^(S)

³⁶ But the people kept silent; they did not answer him at all, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian,^(T) came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn^(U) and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.