Assyria's army attacks Judah

36 When King Hezekiah had ruled Judah for 14 years, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked Judah with his army. He took all the strong cities in Judah for himself.^{[a] 2} Then the king of Assyria sent his army officer from Lachish to Jerusalem, to speak to King Hezekiah. The officer took a large army with him. He stopped at the stream of water that came from the higher pool. It was on the road to the field where people washed clothes.

³ These people came out to meet him:

⁴ The Assyrian army officer said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah that the great king, the king of Assyria, says this to him:

“Why are you so sure that someone will rescue you from our power? ⁵ You say that you have good plans. You say that your army is strong. But those are only useless words! You have turned against me, so who are you trusting to save you? ⁶ Yes, you think that Egypt is strong enough to help you. But you should not trust Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. He is like a weak stick. If you use it to walk with, it will break! A broken piece of stick will make a hole through your hand and give you much pain! That is the trouble that the king of Egypt brings to everyone who trusts him to help them. ⁷ Maybe you will say to me, ‘We are trusting the Lord our God to help us.’ But it was your king, Hezekiah, who removed the altars and the special places where you worship your God. He told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship God only at the altar here in Jerusalem.’ ”

⁸ So you should make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough riders to put on them. ⁹ You cannot refuse what I offer to you! And I am only an unimportant officer who serves my master. You are hoping that Egypt will give you chariots and men to ride on horses. But you will never be strong enough to win a battle against us. ¹⁰ You should also understand this: It was the Lord himself who commanded me to bring my army here and attack Jerusalem. He said to me, “Attack this country and destroy it!” ’

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the leader of the Assyrian army, ‘Please sir, speak to us in the Aramaic language. We can understand it. Do not speak to us in the Hebrew language, because all the people who are on the wall of the city will understand it.’

¹² But the Assyrian army leader replied, ‘My master did not send me here to give this message only to your king and to you. The men who are sitting on the city wall also need to hear my master's message. Like you, they will soon have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine.’

¹³ Then the Assyrian army leader stood there and he shouted in the Hebrew language, ‘Listen to this message from the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ This is what the king says to you:

“Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot save you from my power. ¹⁵ Do not believe Hezekiah when he tells you that you can trust the Lord to help you. He says, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. He will not let the king of Assyria take this city for himself.’ ¹⁶ Do not believe what Hezekiah says!”

This is what the king of Assyria says to you: “Show me that you accept my offer of peace and come out of your city. Then you will all live safely in your homes. You will eat the fruit from your own vines and fig trees. You will drink the water from your own wells. ¹⁷ Later, I will come to Jerusalem. I will take you away to a country that is like your own land here. There will be plenty of grain and new wine for you in that country. There will be bread and there will be vineyards. ¹⁸ Do not let Hezekiah deceive you when he says, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ No god of any nation has ever saved his country from the king of Assyria's power.

¹⁹ The gods of Hamath and Arpad could not help their people. The gods of Sepharvaim could not help their people either. No god was able to rescue Samaria from my power. ²⁰ No god among all the gods of those countries could save their people from my power. So do not think that the Lord can save Jerusalem from my power.” ’

²¹ When the people who were sitting on the wall heard this, they were quiet. They did not reply, because King Hezekiah had said, ‘Do not answer him.’

²² Then King Hezekiah's three officers, Eliakim, Shebna and Joah, went back to Hezekiah. They had torn their clothes because they were very upset. They told the king what the Assyrian officer had said.