亞述王入侵猶大
1希西迦王十四年，亞述王西拿基立率兵攻打猶大，攻陷所有的堅城。 2然後，亞述王從拉吉差遣將軍率領大軍去耶路撒冷找希西迦王。大軍停在上池的水溝旁、通往漂布場的路上。 3希勒迦的兒子宮廷總管以利亞敬、書記舍伯那和亞薩的兒子史官約亞出來見亞述的將軍。
4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？ 5你所謂的戰略和軍力不過是空話。你究竟倚靠誰，竟敢背叛我？ 6看啊，你所倚靠的埃及不過是一根破裂的蘆葦，倚靠它的必被刺破手。倚靠埃及王法老的下場都是這樣。』 7也許你說，『我們倚靠我們的上帝耶和華。』希西迦不是拆毀了祂的廟宇和祭壇，又吩咐猶大和耶路撒冷的人只能在這座祭壇前敬拜嗎？ 8來，跟我主人亞述王打個賭，你若能找到兩千騎士，我就給你兩千匹馬！ 9你們即使依靠埃及的戰車和騎兵，又怎能打敗我主人的一個最小的將領呢？ 10更何況我來攻打、毀滅這地方不正是耶和華的意思嗎？耶和華吩咐我攻打、毀滅這地方。」
11以利亞敬、舍伯那和約亞對亞述的將軍說：「求你用亞蘭語跟僕人們說話，我們都聽得懂。求你不要用希伯來語跟我們說話，免得城牆上的人聽見。」 12亞述的將軍卻說：「難道我主派我來只對希西迦和你們說這些話嗎？不也是對城牆上的人說嗎？他們和你們一樣都要吃自己的糞，喝自己的尿。」
13於是，他站著用希伯來語大喊：「你們要聽偉大的亞述王的話， 14王說，『你們不要被希西迦欺騙，他不能救你們。 15不要聽希西迦的話去倚靠耶和華，說什麼耶和華必拯救你們，這城必不會落在亞述王手中。』 16不要聽希西迦的話。亞述王說，『你們要跟我講和，出來歸順我。這樣，你們就可以吃自己葡萄樹和無花果樹的果子，喝自己井裡的水。 17以後我會來領你們到一個地方，那裡和這裡一樣有五穀和新酒、餅和葡萄園。 18不要讓希西迦欺騙你們，以為耶和華必拯救你們。列國的神明中有哪個曾經從亞述王手中救他的國家呢？ 19哈馬和亞珥拔的神明在哪裡呢？西法瓦音的神明在哪裡呢？他們從我手中救撒瑪利亞了嗎？ 20這些國家的神明中有哪個曾從我手中救自己的國家呢？難道耶和華能從我手中救耶路撒冷嗎？』」 21民眾默不作聲，一言不發，因為希西迦曾吩咐他們不要答話。 22於是，宮廷總管以利亞敬、書記舍伯那和史官約亞都撕裂衣服，去向希西迦稟告亞述的將軍說的話。
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 3Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
4The 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? 5You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 6Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 7But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?
8“ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 9How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen36:9 Or charioteers? 10Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
13Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! 15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
16“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 17until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
21But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
