Isaiah:36
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Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah ,
that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah ,
and captured them .
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The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army .
He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller '
s field highway .
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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah ,
who was over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah ,
the son of Asaph ,
the recorder came out to him .
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Rabshakeh said to them , "
Now tell Hezekiah , '
Thus says the great king ,
the king of Assyria , "
What confidence is this in which you trust ?
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I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words .
Now in whom do you trust ,
that you have rebelled against me ?
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Behold ,
you trust in the staff of this bruised reed ,
even in Egypt ,
which if a man leans on it ,
it will go into his hand and pierce it .
So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him .
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But if you tell me , '
We trust in Yahweh our God ,'
isn '
t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away ,
and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem , '
You shall worship before this altar ?'"
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Now therefore ,
please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria ,
and I will give you two thousand horses ,
if you are able on your part to set riders on them .
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How then can 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 ?
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Have I come up now without Yahweh against this land to destroy it ?
Yahweh said to me , "
Go up against this land ,
and destroy it ."'"
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Then Eliakim ,
Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh , "
Please speak to your servants in Aramaic ,
for we understand it ;
and don '
t speak to us in the Jews '
language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall ."
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But Rabshakeh said , "
Has my master sent me only to your master and to you ,
to speak these words ,
and not to the men who sit on the wall ,
who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you ?"
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Then Rabshakeh stood ,
and called out with a loud voice in the Jews '
language ,
and said , "
Hear the words of the great king ,
the king of Assyria !
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Thus says the king , '
Don '
t let Hezekiah deceive you ;
for he will not be able to deliver you .
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Don '
t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh ,
saying , "
Yahweh will surely deliver us .
This city won '
t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria ."'
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Don '
t listen to Hezekiah ,
for thus says the king of Assyria , '
Make your peace with me ,
and come out to me ;
and each of you eat from his vine ,
and each one from his fig tree ,
and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern ;
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until I come and take you away to a land like your own land ,
a land of grain and new wine ,
a land of bread and vineyards .
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Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you ,
saying , "
Yahweh will deliver us ."
Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria ?
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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad ?
Where are the gods of Sepharvaim ?
Have they delivered Samaria from my hand ?
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Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand ,
that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ?'"
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But they remained silent ,
and said nothing in reply ,
for the king '
s commandment was , "
Don '
t answer him ."
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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah ,
who was over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah ,
the son of Asaph ,
the recorder ,
came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn ,
and told him the words of Rabshakeh .