2 Kings 18:17-25

New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent ^(A)Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^(B)conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the ^[a]fuller’s field. ¹⁸ When they called to the king, ^(C)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(D)Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

¹⁹ Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “^(E)What is this confidence that you ^[b]have? ²⁰ You say (but they are ^[c]only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, ^(F)that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Now behold, you ^[d](G)rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^[e]hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ²² But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and ^(H)whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³ Now therefore, ^[f]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 set riders on them. ²⁴ How then can you ^[g]repulse one ^[h]official of the least of my master’s servants, and ^[i]rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up ^[j]without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”