9And in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and besieged it. 10And at the end of three years Assyria captured it; being the sixth year of Hezekiah, and the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel. 11And the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: 12This was because Israel did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, and would not honor, nor abide by it (His covenant).

13Then in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them. 14And Hezekiah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have offended. Withdraw from me; and I will pay whatever you demand of me”. And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah three hundred talents (almost 20,000 pounds) of silver and thirty talents (almost 2,000 pounds) of gold. 15And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that he found in the temple of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's house. 16At that time did Hezekiah cut the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh (his 3 senior officials) from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem. And they came to Jerusalem. And they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. 18And when they had called to the king, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. 19And the Rabshakeh said to the three, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this in which you trust? 20You say, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you rely, that you rebel against me? 21You trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, Egypt, which, if a man leans on it, it will go into and pierce his hand; so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who rely upon him. 22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God, is it not He, 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?’ 23Now, therefore, give pledges to my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver two thousand horses to you, if you can set riders upon them. 24How then can you repulse one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25Am Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without the direction of the LORD? The LORD, Himself, said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”

26Then said Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak to us in the Syrian language; for we understand it, but do not talk not to us in the Jews' language within the hearing of these people who are on the wall”. 27But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your king, and to you? Has he not also sent me to the men who sit on the wall, that they may need eat their own refuse, and drink their own water with you?” 28Then the Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, “Hear the word of the great king of Assyria: 29Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: 30Nor let Hezekiah cause you to trust in the LORD, by saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given over to the king of Assyria’. 31Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me by a present, and come out to me, and then let every man eat of his own vine, and of his fig tree, and drink the waters of his own cistern (well), 32Until 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 oil olive and of honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah, when he misleads you, by saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ 33Have any of the gods of the nations saved any land from the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they saved Samaria from me? Among all the gods of the countries, 35Which ones are they who have saved their country from me, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?” 36But the people held their peace, and answered not a word; for the king's commandment was, “Answer him not”.

37Then came Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and repeated the words of the Rabshakeh.