20. You say you have battle plans and power for war. But your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me?
21. Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you. Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. If you lean on it for help, it will stab you and hurt you. The king of Egypt will hurt those who depend on him.
22. You might say, “We are depending on the Lord our God.” But Hezekiah destroyed the Lord’s altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem.”
23. “‘Now make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them.
24. You cannot defeat one of my master’s least important officers. So why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and horsemen?
25. I have not come to attack and destroy this place without an order from the Lord. The Lord himself told me to come to this country and destroy it.’”
26. Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna and Joah spoke to the field commander. They said, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew because the people on the city wall can hear you.”
27. But the commander said, “No. My master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. My master sent me to tell them also to those people sitting on the wall. They will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you.”
28. Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language. He said, “Listen to the word from the great king, the king of Assyria!