¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this:

“‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says: ·What can you trust in now [On what do you base your confidence; Where does this confidence come from]? ²⁰ You say you have ·battle plans [strategy; counsel] and ·power [strength] for war, but your words ·mean nothing [are empty]. Whom are you ·trusting [relying/counting on] for help so that you ·turn [rebel] against me? ²¹ Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you, but Egypt is like a ·splintered [broken] ·walking stick [reed]. If you lean on it for help, it will stab your hand and ·hurt [pierce] you. So it will be with the king of Egypt for all those who depend on him. ²² You might say, “We are depending on the Lord our God,” but ·Hezekiah [^Ldid not Hezekiah…?] destroyed the Lord’s altars and ·the places of worship [^Lhigh places; 12:3]. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem.”

²³ “‘Now make an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with my ·master [lord], the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough men to ride them [^Ca taunt that Judah’s army was small]. ²⁴ You cannot ·defeat [repel] one of my ·master’s [lord’s] least important officers, so why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and ·horsemen [charioteers]? ²⁵ ·I have not [^LDo you think I have…?] come to attack and destroy this place without ·an order from the Lord [^Lthe Lord]. The Lord himself told me to come ·to [against] this country and destroy it.’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in ·Hebrew [Judean], because the people on the city wall can hear you.”

²⁷ “No,” the commander said, “my ·master [lord] did not send me to tell these ·things [words] only to your ·master [lord] and you. He sent me to speak also to those people sitting on the wall who, like you, will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in ·the Hebrew language [Judean], “·Listen to what [^LHear the word of] the great king, the king of Assyria, says! ²⁹ The king says you should not let Hezekiah ·fool [deceive; delude] you, because he can’t ·save [rescue; ^Tdeliver] you from my ·power [^Lhand]. ³⁰ Don’t let Hezekiah ·talk [persuade] you into trusting the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely ·save [rescue; ^Tdeliver] us. This city won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well. ³² After that I will come and take you to a land like your own—a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olives, and honey. Choose to live and not to die [^Ca promise that if they gave up, their resettlement would be pleasant]!’

“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. He is ·fooling [misleading] you when he says, ‘The Lord will ·save [rescue; ^Tdeliver] us.’ ³³ Has a god of any other nation ·saved [rescued; ^Tdelivered] his people from the ·power [^Lhand] of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? They did not ·save [rescue; ^Tdeliver] Samaria from my power. ³⁵ Not one of all the gods of these countries has ·saved [rescued; ^Tdelivered] his people from me. Neither can the Lord ·save [rescue; ^Tdeliver] Jerusalem from my ·power [^Lhand].”

³⁶ The people were silent. They didn’t answer the commander at all, because King Hezekiah had ordered, “Don’t answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes [^Ca sign of mourning or distress]. (Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the ·palace [king’s house] manager, Shebna was the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph was the ·recorder [royal historian].) The three men went to Hezekiah and told him what the field commander had said.