1 And it happened in the fourteenth year{be’arba esreh: Hebrew dating formula} of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities{habetzurot: defensive strongholds} of Judah and captured them.
2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh {rabshakeh: chief cupbearer} from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah {chizqiyahu: YHWH strengthens} with a great army; and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the launderer’s field.
3 Then Eliakim {Elyaqim: administrative chief}, son of Hilkiah, who was over the house {bayit: palace headquarters}, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to him.
4 Then Rabshakeh {rav-shaqeh: chief officer} said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this confidence {habitachon: inner security} in which you have trusted?’”
5 I say, “Only a word of the lips is counsel {etzah: strategic advice} and strength for the war. Now, on whom have you trusted that you have rebelled against me {bi: against my authority}?”
6 Behold, you have trusted {batachta: placed confidence in} on the staff of this crushed reed—on Egypt; if a man leans on it, it will enter his palm and pierce {naqav: bore straight through} it. Thus is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant Protector},” is it not He whose high places {bamotav: cultic sites} and altars Hezekiah removed, and who said to Judah and to Jerusalem, “Before this altar you shall worship”?
8 And now, please make a pledge{hit'arev: binding commitment} to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you are able to set riders{rokhvim: skilled cavalrymen} upon them.
9 And how can you turn back the face {pnei: public stance} of one governor {fakhat: provincial officer} of the least of my master’s servants, while you trust for yourself in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10 And now, have I come up against this land to destroy {hashchitah: to ruin or lay waste} it without the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge}? Then the LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”
11 And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic {aramit: official lingua franca}, for we understand {shomeim: able to comprehend}; and do not speak to us in Judean in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12 And Rabshakeh said, “Has my lord sent me to your lord and to you to speak these words? Or has he sent me to the men sitting on the wall to eat their own dung {tso’ah: filth, ritual impurity} and to drink their own urine {mei raglayim: waters of their feet} alongside you?”
13 Then Rabshakeh {rav-shaqeh: chief cupbearer} stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean, and he said, “Hear the words {divrei: royal message} of the great king, the king of Assyria.”
14 Thus says the king {melekh: royal authority}, “Do not let Hezekiah deceive {yashi: mislead in hope} you, for he will not be able to deliver you.”
15 And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD {YHWH, Divine Protector}, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us.” This city will not be given into the hand {yad: controlling authority} of the king of Assyria.
16 Do not listen to Hezekiah {chizqiyahu: Judah’s king}, for thus says the king of Assyria: Make an agreement with me with a tribute gift and come out to me; then each man will eat fruit from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern {bor: private water reservoir}.
17 Until I come and take you away {lakachti: forced removal} to a land like your own land, a land of grain {dagan: harvested produce} and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 Lest Hezekiah incite {yasit: provoke or mislead} you, saying, “The LORD {YHWH, Deliverer} will rescue us.” Did the gods of the nations each deliver {yatsil: save from danger} his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods {elohei: plural local deities} of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And did they deliver Samaria {shomron: northern kingdom capital} from my hand?
20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered {hitzilu: brought to safety} their land from my hand, that the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Challenger} should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?
21 But they kept silent {charash: Deliberate Restraint} and did not answer him a word, for the king’s command {mitzvah: Authoritative Order} was, saying, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder {hamazkir: official record keeper}, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn {keru’ei: sign of mourning}, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.