2 Kings 18:13-37

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

13 1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear."2And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents[a] of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah 3gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house.
16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 And the king of Assyria sent the 4Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by 5the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field.
18 And when they called for the king, there came out to them 6Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and 7Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?
20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
21 Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of 8a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
22 But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he 9whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
23 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
24 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"
26 Then 10Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and 11Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in 12Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?"
28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
29 Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my[b] hand.
30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make your peace with me[c] and come out to me. Then 13each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,
32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, 14a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and 15honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us.
33 16Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 17Where are the gods of 18Hamath and 19Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and 20Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, 21that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him."
37 Then 22Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah 23with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Cross References 23

  • 1. For ver. 13-37, see 2 Chronicles 32:1-20; Isaiah 36:1-22
  • 2. [2 Kings 23:33]
  • 3. [2 Kings 12:18; 2 Kings 16:8]
  • 4. Isaiah 20:1
  • 5. Isaiah 7:3; [2 Kings 20:20]
  • 6. Isaiah 22:20
  • 7. Isaiah 22:15
  • 8. [Ezekiel 29:6, 7]; See Isa. 30:2, 3, 7
  • 9. [ver. 4; 2 Chronicles 31:1]
  • 10. [See ver. 18 above]
  • 11. [See ver. 18 above]
  • 12. [Ezra 4:7; Daniel 2:4]
  • 13. [1 Kings 4:25]
  • 14. Deuteronomy 8:7, 8
  • 15. See Exodus 3:8
  • 16. 2 Kings 19:12; [Isaiah 10:10, 11]
  • 17. [2 Kings 19:13]
  • 18. See 1 Kings 8:65
  • 19. Isaiah 10:9
  • 20. [2 Kings 17:24]
  • 21. [Daniel 3:15]
  • 22. ver. 18, 26; 2 Kings 19:2
  • 23. See Joshua 7:6

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
  • [b]. Hebrew his
  • [c]. Hebrew Make a blessing with me
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.