¹⁹ Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “^(A)What is this trust that you have? ²⁰ You say (but they are ^[a]only empty words), ‘I have counsel and might for the war.’ Now on whom do you trust, ^(B)that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now behold, you ^[b](C)trust in the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^[c]hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² But if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not He whose high places and ^(D)whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³ So now, ^[d]come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to give riders for them. ²⁴ How then can you ^[e]turn away one ^[f]official of the least of my master’s servants, and trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ So now, have I come up ^[g]without the approval of Yahweh against this place to make it a ruin? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and make it a ruin.’”’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we ^[h]understand it; and do not speak with us in ^[i](E)Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, ^[j]saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ Thus says the king, ‘^(F)Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from ^[k]his hand; ³⁰ and do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “^[l]Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat ^(G)each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you away ^(H)to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” ^33 (I)Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ^34 (J)Where are the gods of Hamath and ^(K)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^[m](L)Ivvah? When have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands ^[n]have delivered their land from my hand, ^(M)that Yahweh would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then ^(N)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(O)with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.