14. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have done wrong. Depart from me; what you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria exacted of Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house.
16. Then Hezekiah stripped off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which he as king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh [the high officials] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. They went up to Jerusalem, and when they arrived, they came and stood by the canal of the Upper Pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field. [II Chron. 32:9-19; Isa. 36:1-22.]
18. When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the king's household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.
19. The Rabshakeh told them, Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king of Assyria: What justifies this confidence of yours?
20. You say–but they are empty words–There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom do you rely, that you rebel against me?
21. Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff; if a man leans on it, it will pierce his hand. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust and rely on him.
22. But if you tell me, We trust in and rely on the Lord our God, is it not He Whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23. So now, make a wager and give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria: I will deliver you 2,000 horses–if you can on your part put riders on them.
24. How then can you beat back one captain among the least of my master's servants, when your trust is put in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25. Have I 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 Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, We pray you, speak to your servants in the Aramaic (Syrian) language, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people on the wall.
27. But the Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and you only to say these things? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall [whom Hezekiah has doomed to be forced] to eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you?
28. Then the Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, Hear the word of the great king of Assyria!
29. Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you. For he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.