17. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the washer’s field.
18. And they called the king, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the writer of chronicles went out to them.
19. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which thou dost trust?
20. Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
21. Now, behold, thou dost 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 unto all that trust in him.
22. But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is he not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23. Now therefore, I pray thee, give hostages unto my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou art able on thy part to set riders upon them.
24. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s slaves, even though thou dost trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25. Furthermore, Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.