17. Then the king of the Assyrians sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish, to king Hezekiah, with a powerful hand, to Jerusalem. And when they had ascended, they arrived in Jerusalem, and they stood beside the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is along the way of the fuller's field.
18. And they called for the king. But there went out to them Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the first ruler of the house, and Shebnah, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the keeper of records.
19. And Rabshakeh said to them: "Speak to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this faith, in which you strive?
20. Perhaps, you have taken counsel, so that you would prepare yourself for battle. In whom do you trust, so that you would dare to rebel?
21. Do you hope in Egypt, that staff of a broken reed, which, if a man would lean upon it, breaking, it would pierce his hand? Such is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who would trust in him.
22. But if you say to me: 'We have faith in the Lord, our God.' Is it not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away? And did he not instruct Judah and Jerusalem: 'You shall adore before this altar in Jerusalem?'
23. Now therefore, cross over to my lord, the king of the Assyrians, and I will give to you two thousand horses, and we will see if you even have enough riders for them.
24. So how can you resist one prince from the least of my lord's servants? Do you have faith in Egypt because of the chariots and horsemen?
25. Is it not by the will of the Lord that I have chosen to ascend to this place, so that I may destroy it? The Lord said to me: 'Ascend to this land, and destroy it.' "
26. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh: "We beseech you, that you may speak to us, your servants, in Syriac. For we understand that language to some extent. And do not speak to us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people, who are upon the wall."
27. And Rabshakeh responded to them, saying: "Has my lord sent me to your lord and to you, so that I may speak these words, and not instead to the men who are sitting upon the wall, so that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?"
28. And so, Rabshakeh stood up, and he exclaimed in a great voice, in the Jews' language, and he said: "Listen to the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.
29. Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah lead you astray. For he will not be able to rescue you from my hand.
30. And do not let him give you faith in the Lord, saying: 'The Lord will rescue and free us, and this city will not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.'
31. Do not choose to listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of the Assyrians: Do with me what is for your own good, and come out to me. And each one of you will eat from his own vine, and from his own fig tree. And you shall drink water from your own wells,
32. until I arrive and transfer you into a land, similar to your own land, a fruitful and fertile land of wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives and oil and honey. And you will live, and not die. Do not choose to listen to Hezekiah, who deceives you, saying: 'The Lord will free us.'
33. Have any of the gods of the nations freed their land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
34. Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Avva? Have they freed Samaria from my hand?
35. Which ones among all the gods of the lands have rescued their region from my hand, so that the Lord would be able to rescue Jerusalem from my hand?"
36. But the people were silent, and they did not respond at all to him. For indeed, they had received an instruction from the king that they should not respond to him.