1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.

2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the launderer’s field.

And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

3 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, with Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

4 The Rabshakeh said to them, 'Say to Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence you rely on?

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

5 You say—it’s only empty words—‘I have advice and strength for war.’ But now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me?

I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

6 Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, which if anyone leans on it, it will pierce their hand and wound them. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ isn’t He the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar’?

But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

8 Now then, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can provide riders for them!

Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, 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.

9 How then can you turn away even one of the least of my master’s officials? And you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

How then wilt 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?

10 Now, have I attacked this land to destroy it without the LORD’s approval? The LORD Himself told me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'

And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, 'Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.'

Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto 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 that are on the wall.

12 But the Rabshakeh replied, 'Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?'

But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew: 'Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

Then 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.

14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you!

Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

15 And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’

Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

17 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?

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 the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, because the king had commanded, 'Do not answer him.'

But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the household; Shebna, the scribe; and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.