⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

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

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(F) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷ But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(G) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(H) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(I) 32} until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(J) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³ Has the god^(K) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath^(L) and Arpad?^(M) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(N)

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim^(O) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(P) and told him what the field commander had said.

¹⁶ These people are grumblers^(A) and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires;^(B) they boast^(C) about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

²² They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” ²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel^(A) of the Lord struck him down,^(B) and he was eaten by worms and died.

¹⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud^(P) of its height, ¹¹ I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside,^{(Q) 12} and the most ruthless of foreign nations^(R) cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys;^(S) its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it.^{(T) 13} All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.^{(U) 14} Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined^(V) for death,^(W) for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.^(X)

¹⁵ “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the realm of the dead I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away.^{(Y) 16} I made the nations tremble^(Z) at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees^(AA) of Eden,^(AB) the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well-watered trees, were consoled^(AC) in the earth below.^{(AD) 17} They too, like the great cedar, had gone down to the realm of the dead, to those killed by the sword,^(AE) along with the armed men who lived in its shade among the nations.

¹⁸ “‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised,^(AF) with those killed by the sword.

“‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?^{(A) 12} Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors^(B) deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran,^(C) Rezeph and the people of Eden^(D) who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad?^(E) Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim,^(F) Hena and Ivvah?”^(G)

Hezekiah’s Prayer^(H)

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter^(I) from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple^(J) of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed^(K) to the Lord:

¹² When the Lord has finished all his work^(J) against Mount Zion^(K) and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria^(L) for the willful pride^(M) of his heart and the haughty look^(N) in his eyes. ¹³ For he says: