1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. 3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came forth to him, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder. 4And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which thou trust? 5I say, [thy] counsel and strength for the war are but vain words. Now on whom do thou trust that thou have rebelled against me? 6Behold, thou trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. 7But if thou say to me, We trust in LORD our God. Is that not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9How then can thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10And have I now come up without LORD against this land to destroy it? LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. 11Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. 12But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words, [and] not to the men who sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you? 13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in LORD, saying, LORD will surely deliver us. This city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16Hearken not to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me, and eat ye everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink ye everyone the waters of his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.