1. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
2. Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller’s Field.
3. Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4. The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?
5. I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
6. Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
7. Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?
8. Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!
9. How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?