2 Kings 18:19-37 - Assyrians Advise Against Trust In Yahweh
19 And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Speak now to Hezekiah, So says the great king, the king of Assyria, What hope is this in which you trust? 20 Do you say that a mere word of the lips is wisdom and strength for the war? Now on whom do you trust that you rebel against me? 21 Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. 22 But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God, is He not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23 And now, please give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver two thousand horses to you if you are able to set riders on them. 24 And how will you turn away the face of one commander of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without Jehovah? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the chief of the cupbearers, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand. And do not talk with us in Jewish, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
27 And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
28 And the chief of the cupbearers stood and cried with a loud voice in Jewish, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: 29 so says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. For he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. 30 And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria.
31 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For so says the king of Assyria, Make with me a blessing, and come out to me, and you each shall eat of his vine, and each of his fig tree, and you each shall drink of the waters of his own cistern, 32 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, a land of olive oil and of honey, and live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he deceives you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. 33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
36 But the people kept silent and did not answer him a word. For the king's command was, saying, Do not answer him. 37 And 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 they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.