XXXVI. 1 And it came to pass, in the fourteenth year of the king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to the king Hezekiah with a great army. And he took his stand by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
3 And there went out to him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder;
4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say, I pray, to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What trust is this wherewith thou trustest?
5 I say, It is only a word of -the lips, counsel and strength for war: now, in whom trustest thou, that thou rebellest against me?
6 Lo, thou trustest on this bruised reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh ’of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7 And if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath removed, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8 And now, exchange pledges, I pray, with my lord the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able to set for thyself riders upon them.
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one governor among the least of my ’s servants, and puttest thy trust in - Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10 And now is it without the LORD that I am come up against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11 And Eliakim said, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, pray, unto thy servants in the Aramaean tongue, for we understand it: and speak not unto us in the Jewish tongue, in-the ears of the people which are on the wall.
12 And Rabshakeh said, Is it to thy lord, and to thee, that my lord hath sent me, to speak these words? Is it not to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and drink their own water with you?
13 And Rabshakeh Stood, and cried with a great voice in the Jewish tongue, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the ἦ king of AsSyria
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he shall not be able to deliver you. ὁ .
15 And let not Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will safely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ’
16 Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria., Make agreement 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 cistern :
17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own - land, a land of corn and new wine, a land, of bread and vine- yards:
18 Lest Hezekiah entice you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered everyone his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods-of Hamath and Arpad? where the ’ gods of Sepharvaim? and verily they have delivered Samaria out ’ of my hand! .
20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have ’ delivered their land out of my hand? that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand!
21 But they ’held their peace, arid answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was thus, saying, Ye shall not answer ’ him. ’
22 And Eliakim came, the son of Hilkiah, that’was over the house, and Shebna the secretary, and J-oah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, unto Hezekiah, with clothes rent, and told him the ’ words of Rabshakeh.
Isaias. . ed. Richard Rusden Ottley. Germany. 2016.
Sponsored by University of Leipzig.
Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.