2 ARST Then the king of Assyria sent a large army with some of his important officials from the city of Lachish to persuade King Hezekiah to surrender. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stood alongside the aqueduct in which water flows into the upper pool into Jerusalem, near the road to the field where the women wash clothes. BSB BSB: And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.
3 ARST The Israelite officials who went out of the city to talk with them were Hilkiah’ s son Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna the king’ s secretary, and Asaph’ s son Joah, who wrote down the government decisions. BSB BSB: Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
4 ARST Then one of Sennacherib’ s important officials told them to take a message to Hezekiah from the king of Assyria, the great king. In the message, the king said to the people of Jerusalem,“What are you trusting in to rescue you? BSB BSB: The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?
5 ARST You say that you have weapons to fight us and that some other nation has promised to help you, but that is only talk. Who do you think will help you to rebel against my soldiers from Assyria? BSB BSB: You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
6 ARST Listen to me! You are relying on the army of Egypt. But that is like when a man tries to walk while leaning on a broken reed for a walking stick. But it would pierce the hand of anyone who would lean on it! That is what the king of Egypt is like for anyone who relies on him for help. BSB BSB: Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
7 ARST But perhaps you will say to me that you are relying on Yahweh your God to help you. In that case, I would answer that Yahweh is the one whom Hezekiah insulted by tearing down his high places and altars and forcing everyone in Jerusalem and other places in Judah to worship only in front of the altar in Jerusalem.” BSB BSB: But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?
8 ARST The Assyrian official talking in front of the city continued:“So I suggest that you make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, but I do not think that you can find two thousand of your own men who can ride on them! BSB BSB: Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
9 ARST You are expecting the king of Egypt to send chariots and men riding horses to assist you. But they certainly would not be able to resist even the most insignificant official in the army of Assyria! BSB BSB: For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 ARST Furthermore, do not think that we have come here to attack and destroy this land without Yahweh’ s orders! It is Yahweh himself who told us to come here and destroy this land!” BSB BSB: So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
11 ARST Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the official from Assyria,“Please speak to us in your Aramaic language, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in our Hebrew language, because the people who are standing on the wall will understand it and become frightened.” BSB BSB: Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12 ARST But the official replied,“Do you think that my master sent me to say these things only to you, and not to the people standing on the wall? If you reject this message, the people in this city will soon need to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, just as you will, because you will have nothing else to eat.“ BSB BSB: But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 ARST Then the official stood up and shouted in the Hebrew language to the people sitting on the wall. He said,“Listen to this message from the great king, the king of Assyria! BSB BSB: Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 ARST He says,‘Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you! He will not be able to rescue you! BSB BSB: This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
15 ARST Do not allow him to persuade you to trust in Yahweh, saying that Yahweh will rescue you, and that the army of the king of Assyria will never capture this city! BSB BSB: Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
16 ARST Do not pay attention to what Hezekiah says! This is what the king of Assyria says:“Come out of the city and surrender to me. If you do that, I will arrange for each of you to drink the wine from your own grapevines and to eat figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own well. BSB BSB: Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,
17 ARST You will be able to do that until we come and take you to a land that is like your land— a land where there is grain to make bread and vineyards to produce grapes for making new wine and, where we make plenty of bread.” BSB BSB: until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 ARST Do not allow Hezekiah to trick you by saying,“Yahweh will rescue us.” The gods that people of other nations worship have never rescued any of them from the power of the king of Assyria! BSB BSB: Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 ARST Why were the gods of Hamath and Arpad cities, and the gods of Sepharvaim unable to rescue Samaria from my power? BSB BSB: Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
20 ARST No, no god of any nation which our armies have attacked has been able to rescue their people from me. So why do you think that Yahweh will rescue you people of Jerusalem from my power?” BSB BSB: Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
21 ARST But the Hebrew soldiers who were listening were silent. No one said anything, because King Hezekiah had commanded them,“When the official from Assyria talks to you, do not answer him.” BSB BSB: But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
22 ARST Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn because they were extremely distressed. They told him what the official from Assyria had said. BSB BSB: Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.