| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. | 1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. |
| 2Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander, along with a very large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the field commander stopped at the aqueduct at the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman's Field, | 2The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief adviser stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. |
| 3Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph's son Joah, the recorder, went out to him. | 3Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him. |
| 4The field commander told them: "Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, 'This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this "guarantee" that makes you yourself rely on it? | 4The chief adviser said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: "What is your source of confidence? |
| 5Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you're rebelling against me? | 5Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? |
| 6Take note: you're relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him! | 6Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him! |
| 7But if you all say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"—isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, 'You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem'? | 7Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the LORD our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar.' |
| 8Come now, all of you, make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you can furnish riders for them! | 8Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. |
| 9How, then, can you repulse even one officer from the least of my master's officials, when you are depending for yourselves on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? | 9Certainly you will not refuse one of my master's minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. |
| 10One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD's direction? The LORD himself ordered me, 'March against this country to destroy it.'" | 10Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The LORD told me, 'March up against this land and destroy it!'"'" |
| 11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah replied to him, "Please speak with your servants—with us —in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew where the people sitting on the wall can hear." | 11Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." |
| 12But the field commander asked, "Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn't it also to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?" | 12But the chief adviser said, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!" |
| 13Then the commander stood up and shouted out loud in Hebrew: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! | 13The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, "Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. |
| 14This is what the king of Assyria says: 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you—for he cannot save you! | 14This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! |
| 15Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, "The LORD will really deliver us!" and "This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!" | 15Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD by saying, "The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." |
| 16Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, | 16Don't listen to Hezekiah!' For this is what the king of Assyria says, 'Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, |
| 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—to a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.' | 17until I come and take you to a land just like your own--a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. |
| 18Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, "The LORD will save us." Has any god of any nation ever delivered his country from the king of Assyria? | 18Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, "The LORD will rescue us." Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? |
| 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me? | 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? |
| 20Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered their land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from me?'" | 20Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?'" |
| 21But the people remained silent and didn't respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, "Don't answer him." | 21They were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, "Don't respond to him." |
| 22Then Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph's son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said. | 22Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief and reported to him what the chief adviser had said. |
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