20. You say, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
21. Now, behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust in him.
22. But if you say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23. Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them.
24. How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25. Am 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.
26. Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Aramaic language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
27. But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat and drink their own waste with you?
28. Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
29. Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: