18
When they had called to the king, there came out to them Elyakim the son of Hilkiyah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the Sofer, and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the recorder.
19
Ravshakeh said to them, Say you now to Hizkiyahu, Thus says the great king, the king of Ashshur, What confidence is this in which you trust?
20
You say (but they are but vain words), [There is] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
21
Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Mitzrayim; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Par`oh king of Mitzrayim to all who trust on him.
22
But if you tell me, We trust in the LORD our God; isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hizkiyahu has taken away, and has said to Yehudah and to Yerushalayim, You shall worship before this altar in Yerushalayim?
23
Now therefore, Please give pledges to my master the king of Ashshur, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
24
How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Mitzrayim for chariots and for horsemen?
25
Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? the LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
26
Then said Elyakim the son of Hilkiyah, and Shebnah, and Yo'ach, to Ravshakeh, Please speak to your servants in the Arammian language; for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Yehudim' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
27
But Ravshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?
28
Then Ravshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Yehudim' language, and spoke, saying, Hear you the word of the great king, the king of Ashshur.