rsv 2Kings:18:17-35
rsv@2Kings:18:17 @ And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab'saris, and the Rab'shakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezeki'ah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field.
rsv@2Kings:18:18 @ And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
rsv@2Kings:18:19 @ And the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Say to Hezeki'ah, `Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours?
rsv@2Kings:18:20 @ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me?
rsv@2Kings:18:21 @ Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
rsv@2Kings:18:22 @ But if you say to me, "We rely on the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezeki'ah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
rsv@2Kings:18:23 @ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them.
rsv@2Kings:18:24 @ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
rsv@2Kings:18:25 @ Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"
rsv@2Kings:18:26 @ Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, and Shebnah, and Jo'ah, said to the Rab'shakeh, "Pray, speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
rsv@2Kings:18:27 @ But the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?"
rsv@2Kings:18:28 @ Then the Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
rsv@2Kings:18:29 @ Thus says the king: `Do not let Hezeki'ah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.
rsv@2Kings:18:30 @ Do not let Hezeki'ah make you to rely on the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
rsv@2Kings:18:31 @ Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: `Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern;
rsv@2Kings:18:32 @ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezeki'ah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us.
rsv@2Kings:18:33 @ Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
rsv@2Kings:18:34 @ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva'im, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Sama'ria out of my hand?
rsv@2Kings:18:35 @ Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
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