You say you have a design, and strength for war, but these are only words. Now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority?

And if you say to me, Our hope is in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and Jerusalem that worship may only be given before this altar in Jerusalem?

But the Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to your master or to you that my master has sent me to say these words? has he not sent me to the men seated on the wall? for they are the people who will be short of food with you when the town is shut in.

This is what the king says: Do not be tricked by Hezekiah, for there is no salvation for you in him.

Do not give ear to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me; and everyone will be free to take the fruit of his vine and of his fig-tree, and the water of his spring;

Till I come and take you away to a land like yours, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vine-gardens, a land of oil-giving olives and of honey, so that life and not death may be your fate. Give no attention to Hezekiah when he says to you, The Lord will keep us safe.

And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them.

It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so then make your prayer for the rest of the people.

And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing.

This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.

Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.

Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.

For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it;

By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town, says the Lord.

In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord says, Put your house in order, for your death is near.

Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, The Lord, the God of David your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping; see, I will make you well: on the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say and where did they come from? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, even from Babylon.

Truly, days are coming when everything in your house, and whatever your fathers have put in store till this day, will be taken away to Babylon: all will be gone, says the Lord.

For this cause, says the Lord, the God of Israel, I will send such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all to whom the news comes will be burning.

And she said to them, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Say to the man who sent you to me,

But to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from the Lord, say, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: As to the words which have come to your ears,

Because your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before me, when you had word of what I said against this place and its people, that they would become a waste and a curse, and you gave signs of grief, weeping before me: truly, I have given ear to you, says the Lord.

And the king gave orders to all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it says in this book of the law

Never before had there been a king like him, turning to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his power, as the law of Moses says; and after him there was no king like him.

Let the heavens have joy and let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The Lord is King.

And say, Be our saviour, O God of our salvation, and let us come back, and give us salvation from the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name and have glory in your praise.

Go and say to David my servant, The Lord says, You are not to make me a house for my living-place:

In all the places where I have gone with all Israel, did I ever say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I made the keepers of my people, Why have you not made for me a house of cedar?

So now, say to my servant David, The Lord of armies says, I took you from the fields, from keeping sheep, so that you might be a ruler over my people Israel;

What more may David say to you? for you have knowledge of your servant.

So let your words be made certain and your name be made great, when men say, The Lord of armies is the God of Israel; and when the family of David your servant is made strong before you.

Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, so that I may do it to you.

So Gad came to David and said to him, The Lord says, Take whichever you will:

Then the angel of the Lord gave orders to Gad to say to David that he was to go and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

In that night God came to Solomon in a vision, and said to him, Say what I am to give you.

And this house will become a mass of broken walls, and everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house?

And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us, but will you make it less; say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's body;

Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, but I have no love for him, because he has never been a prophet of good to me, but only of evil: he is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself iron horns and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.

Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs, and say good things.

And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say.

And the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good to me, but of evil?

And say, By the king's order this man is to be put in prison, and given prison food till I come back in peace.

And he said, Give ear, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat: the Lord says to you, Have no fear and do not be troubled on account of this great army; for the fight is not yours but God's.

And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, The Lord, the God of your father David, says, Because you have not kept to the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of Asa, king of Judah,

But while he was talking to him the king said to him, Have we made you one of the king's government? say no more, or it will be the cause of your death. Then the prophet gave up protesting, and said, It is clear to me that God's purpose is your destruction, because you have done this and have not given ear to my words.

You say, See, I have overcome Edom; and your heart is lifted up with pride: now keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?

After this, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem (at that time he was stationed with all his army in front of Lachish), to say to Hezekiah and all the men of Judah in Jerusalem,

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, says, In what are you placing your hope, waiting here in the walled town of Jerusalem?

So do not be tricked by Hezekiah or let him get you to do this, and do not put any faith in what he says: for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to keep his people safe from my hands, or the hands of my fathers: how much less will your God keep you safe from my hands!

And he sent letters, in addition, to put shame on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to say evil against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not been able to keep their people safe from my hands, no more will the God of Hezekiah keep his people safe from my hands.

And she said to them, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Say to the man who sent you to me,

But to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from the Lord, say, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: Because you have given ear to my words,

And your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before God, on hearing his words about this place and its people, and with weeping and signs of grief have made yourself low before me, I have given ear to you, says the Lord God.

And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.

And whatever they have need of, young oxen and sheep and lambs, for burned offerings to the God of heaven, grain, salt, wine, and oil, whatever the priests in Jerusalem say is necessary, is to be given to them day by day regularly:

And I sent them to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and gave them orders what to say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at the place Casiphia, so that they might come back to us with men to do the work of the house of our God.

And now, O our God, what are we to say after this? for we have not kept your laws,

Then they said, We will give them back, and take nothing for them; we will do as you say. Then I sent for the priests and made them take an oath that they would keep this agreement.

And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king;

Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, they are only a fiction you have made up yourself.

For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.

And that they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book.

And the wives of the captains of Persia and Media, hearing what the queen has done, will say the same to all the king's captains. So there will be much shame and wrath.

And he gave him the copy of the order which had been given out in Shushan for their destruction, ordering him to let Esther see it, and to make it clear to her; and to say to her that she was to go in to the king, requesting his mercy, and making prayer for her people.

Then Esther sent Hathach to say to Mordecai:

If at this time you say nothing, then help and salvation will come to the Jews from some other place, but you and your father's family will come to destruction: and who is to say that you have not come to the kingdom even for such a time as this?

In all this Job did no sin, and did not say that God's acts were foolish.

And his wife said to him, Are you still keeping your righteousness? Say a curse against God, and put an end to yourself.

If one says a word, will it be a weariness to you? but who is able to keep from saying what is in his mind?

Did I say, Give me something? or, Make a payment for me out of your wealth?

Now then, let your eyes be turned to me, for truly I will not say what is false to your face.

When I go to my bed, I say, When will it be time to get up? but the night is long, and I am turning from side to side till morning light.

When I say, In my bed I will have comfort, there I will get rest from my disease;

How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

Will they not give you teaching, and say words of wisdom to you?

If he is taken away from his place, then it will say, I have not seen you.

If he puts out his hand to take, by whom may it be turned back? who may say to him, What are you doing?

If it is a question of strength, he says, Here I am! and if it is a question of a cause at law, he says, Who will give me a fixed day?

Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner.

It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together.

If I say, I will put my grief out of mind, I will let my face be sad no longer and I will be bright;

Then I would say what is in my mind without fear of him; for there is no cause of fear in myself.

I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

You may say, My way is clean, and I am free from sin in your eyes.

Will you say in God's name what is not right, and put false words into his mouth?

Keep quiet, and let me say what is in my mind, whatever may come to me.

Give ear with care to my words, and keep what I say in your minds.

Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:

It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:

If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?

They are changing night into day; they say, The light is near the dark.

If I say to the earth, You are my father; and to the worm, My mother and my sister;

How long will it be before you have done talking? Get wisdom, and then we will say what is in our minds.

If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:

Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?

Let me say what is in my mind, and after that, go on making sport of me.

You say, God keeps punishment stored up for his children. Let him send it on the man himself, so that he may have the punishment of it!