17The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a heavy force to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And they went up, came, and stood at the conduit of the upper Blessing, which is on the highway of the field of the fuller.18They called for the king, and Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.19The Rab-shakeh said to them: "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this trust in which you have trusted?'"20You say, "Only empty words—counsel and strength for war." Now on whom have you trusted that you have rebelled against me?21Now behold, you have trusted for yourself on the staff, the broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it comes into his palm and pierces it; so Pharaoh king of Egypt will be to all who trust in him.22But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? He said to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem."23Now then, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them.24How will you turn away the face of one prefect of the servants of my lord? You trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.25Have I come up against this place to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”26Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”27The Rabshakeh said to them, "Has he sent me to speak these words to your master and to you? Did your master send me to speak these words? Is it not to the men sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?"28The Rab-shakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean and spoke and said, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria."29The king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you from his hand.30And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will deliver us; he will deliver us. The LORD will not give this city into the hand of the king of Assyria."31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make a blessing with me and come out to me, and eat each from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink each from the water of his cistern.”32until they come and take you to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil, olives, and honey, so that you live and do not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he will act treacherously against you by saying, “The LORD will rescue us.”33Did the gods of the nations save the nations, each his earth from the hand of the king of Assyria?34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? For did they deliver Shomron from my hand?35Which of all the gods of the lands has saved their land from my hand? Will the LORD save Jerusalem from my hand?36The people kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”37Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments, and they told him the words of Rab-shakeh.