Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the
people of Jerusalem that were on the wall
The messengers of Sennacherib, particularly Rabshakeh the chief speaker; though they were desired to speak in the Syrian language, ( Isaiah 36:11 Isaiah 36:13 ) ,
but this they did to affright them, and to trouble them, that they
might take the city;
to throw them into terror and confusion, that they might prevail upon them to deliver up the city to them.