One Year Chronological Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 108
JULY 20
p a g e 930
“ This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that
makes you so confident? 20Do you think that mere words can substitute for
military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled
against me? 21On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that
splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of
Egypt, is completely unreliable!
22
“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God!’
But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear
down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem
worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
23
“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria.
I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!
24
With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest
contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and
charioteers? 25 What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without
the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself told us, ‘Attack this land and
destroy it!’”
26
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of
staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in
Hebrew,* for the people on the wall will hear.”
27
But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this
message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for
when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so
hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
28
Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall,
“Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king
says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my
power. 30Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will
surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
31
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering:
Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own
well. 32 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of
grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life
instead of death!
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘ The LORD
will rescue us!’ 33Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from
the king of Assyria? 34What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And
what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? 35 What god of any nation has ever been able to save its
people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
36
But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had
commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
37
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They
18:26 Hebrew in the dialect of Judah; also in 18:28.
