¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^o his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^p on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for the king; and Eliakim^q son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^r the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence^s of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,^t that splintered reed of a staff,^u which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²²But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

Read in Logos

Cross references

o Isa 20:1
p 2 Ki 20:20; 2 Ch 32:4, 30; Ne 2:14; Isa 22:9
q 2 Ki 19:2; Isa 22:20; 36:3, 11, 22; 37:2
rver 26, 37; Isa 22:15
sSee ver 5; See Job 4:6
t Isa 20:5; 31:1; Eze 29:6
u 2 Ki 24:7; Isa 20:6; 30:5, 7; Jer 25:19; 37:7; 46:2