IsaiahChapter 36

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¹It was the fourteenth year that Hezekiah was king. Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the walled cities of Judah and captured them. ²The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He sent him with a large army. The Rabshakeh stopped by the water channel of the upper pool. It was on the road to the Launderer's Field.a ³Then three men went out to meet him. They were Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, who kept the records. ⁴The Rabshakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in? Why are you so sure of yourself? ⁵You say you have a plan and the strength for war. But those are empty words. Who are you trusting in now, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶Look, you are trusting in Egypt. Egypt is like a cracked reed used as a walking stick. If you lean on it, it will stab your hand. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to all who trust in him. ⁷But you may say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God.' Isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah took away? Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship in front of this altar.' ⁸So now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, if you can find riders to put on them! ⁹For how can you push back even one officer, one of the least of my master's servants, when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰Besides, do you think I have come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me, 'Go attack this land and destroy it.'" ¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic. We understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew. The people on the wall can hear you." ¹²But the Rabshakeh answered, "Did my master send me to say these things only to you and your master? No, he sent me to the men sitting on the wall too. Like you, they will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine." ¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood up and shouted in Hebrew, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah fool you. He can't save you. ¹⁵Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD. He says, 'The LORD will surely save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' ¹⁶Don't 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 from your own vine and your own fig tree. Each of you will drink water from your own well. ¹⁷Then I will come and take you away to a land like your own. It is a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Don't let Hezekiah fool you when he says, 'The LORD will save us.' Has the god of any nation ever saved his land from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they save Samaria from my hand? ²⁰Which of all the gods of these lands has saved his land from my hand? So how can the LORD save Jerusalem from my hand?" ²¹But the people stayed quiet. They did not say a word. For Hezekiah had given an order: "Do not answer him." ²²Then the three men went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They were Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, who kept the records. They told Hezekiah what the Rabshakeh had said.