The chief adviser said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah:‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says:“ What is your source of confidence?

拉伯沙基对他们说：“你们去告诉希西家说，亚述大王如此说：‘你所倚靠的有什么可仗赖的呢？

将军对他们说：“你们去告诉希西家，大王亚述王如此说：‘你倚赖什么，让你如此自信满满？

将军对他们说：“你们去告诉希西家，大王亚述王如此说：‘你倚赖什么，让你如此自信满满？

亚述的将军对他们说：“你们去告诉希西迦，伟大的亚述王说，‘你凭什么这样自信呢？

拉伯沙基对他们说：“你们去对希西家说：‘亚述大王这样说：你所倚靠的算得是什么倚靠呢？

将军对他们说：“请你们告诉希西加：亚述大王如此说‘你所依靠的算什么依靠？

拉伯沙基對他們說：「你們去告訴希西家說，亞述大王如此說：『你所倚靠的有甚麼可仗賴的呢？

將軍對他們說：「你們去告訴希西家，大王亞述王如此說：『你倚賴甚麼，讓你如此自信滿滿？

將軍對他們說：「你們去告訴希西家，大王亞述王如此說：『你倚賴甚麼，讓你如此自信滿滿？

亞述的將軍對他們說：「你們去告訴希西迦，偉大的亞述王說，『你憑什麼這樣自信呢？

拉伯沙基對他們說：“你們去對希西家說：‘亞述大王這樣說：你所倚靠的算得是甚麼倚靠呢？

參謀長對他們說：『你們去對希西家說：「大王亞述王這麼說：你所倚靠的這種倚靠心算得了甚麼？

將軍對他們說：「請你們告訴希西加：亞述大王如此說『你所依靠的算什麼依靠？

拉伯沙基謂之曰、其告希西家、大王亞述王云、爾所恃者何耶、

臘沙基曰、爾當告希西家亞述大王云、爾誰恃、

拉伯沙基謂之曰、爾曹告希西家曰、亞述大王如是云、爾何所恃耶、

The 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 of yours?

The field commander said to them,“ Give Hezekiah this message. Tell him,“‘ Sennacherib is the great king of Assyria. He says,“ Why are you putting your faith in what your king says?

And the Rabshakeh said to them,“ Say to Hezekiah,‘ Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?

Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:“ This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

The royal spokesman said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?

And Rabshakeh said to them,“ Say now to Hezekiah,‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says:“ What is this confidence that you have?

Then the Rabshakeh said to them,“ Say now to Hezekiah,‘ Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria:“ What confidence is this in which you trust?

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

The Rabshakeh said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence[ is] this wherein thou trustest?

Rabshakeh said to them,“ Now tell Hezekiah,‘ The great king, the king of Assyria, says,“ What confidence is this in which you trust?

The chief adviser said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah:‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says:“ What is your source of confidence?Your 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?Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.Perhaps 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 in Jerusalem.’Now 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.Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The LORD told me,‘ March up against this land and destroy it.’”’”Eliakim son of Hilkiah, 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.”But the chief adviser said to them,“ 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.”The 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.This is what the king says:‘ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand!Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD when he says,“ The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”Don’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,until 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, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says,“ The LORD will rescue us.”Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered,“ Don’t respond to him.”Eliakim 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 and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

The king uttered these words:“ Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence by my own mighty strength and for my majestic honor?”

I cannot eat, I weep day and night; all day long they say to me,“ Where is your God?”

But the crowd began to shout,“ The voice of a god, and not of a man!”Immediately an angel of the Lord struck Herod down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed– the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar– rescued by their gods?Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD.Hezekiah prayed before the LORD:

My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, as they say to me all day long,“ Where is your God?”

Indeed, he says:“ Are not my officials all kings?Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus?I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s.As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.For he says:“ By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping.”

These people are grumblers and fault- finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain.

“ Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this:‘ Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says,“ Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field.Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots.All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great nations lived.It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.“‘ Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out.Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land have departed from its shade and left it.On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals will walk on its branches.For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; they will be among mere mortals, with those who descend to the pit.“‘ This is what the sovereign LORD says: On the day it went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign LORD.’”

Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power?Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how can your gods rescue you from my power?’”Sennacherib’s servants further insulted the LORD God and his servant Hezekiah.

“ Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic because of the king of Assyria and this huge army that is with him! We have with us one who is stronger than those who are with him.He has with him mere human strength, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and fight our battles!” The army was encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.Afterward King Sennacherib of Assyria, while attacking Lachish with all his military might, sent his messengers to Jerusalem. The message was for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem. It read:“ This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says:‘ Why are you so confident that you remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege?

For my enemies talk about me; those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.They say,“ God has abandoned him. Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”