1
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth*year of kingHezekiah, that Sennacheribking of Assyria came up against all the defencedcities of Judah, and took them.
2
And the king of AssyriasentRabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto kingHezekiah with a greatarmy. And he stood by the conduit of the upperpool in the highway of the fuller'sfield.
6
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this brokenreed, on Egypt; whereon if a manlean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaohking of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7
But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altarsHezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worshipbefore this altar?
8
Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousandhorses, if thou be able on thy part to setriders upon them.
11
Then saidEliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh,Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
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But Rabshakehsaid, Hath my mastersent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung*, and drink their own piss** with you?
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Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD,saying, The LORD will surelydeliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
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Beware lest Hezekiahpersuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nationsdelivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
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Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliverJerusalem out of my hand?
22
Then cameEliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothesrent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.