1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. 3Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.36.3 scribe: or, secretary
4¶ And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?36.5 vain…: Heb. a word of lips36.5 I have…: or, but counsel and strength are for the war 6Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.36.8 pledges: or, hostages 9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11¶ Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
12¶ But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. 15Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;36.16 Make…: or, Seek my favour by a present: Heb. Make with me a blessing 17Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
22¶ Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
የሰናክሬም ዛቻ በኢየሩሳሌም ላይ
1ንጉሥ ሕዝቅያስ በነገሠ በዐሥራ አራተኛው ዓመት፣ የአሦር ንጉሥ ሰናክሬም የተመሸጉትን የይሁዳ ከተሞች ሁሉ አጥቅቶ ያዛቸው። 2የአሦርም ንጉሥ የጦር አዛዡን ከብዙ ሰራዊት ጋር ከለኪሶ፣ ንጉሡ ሕዝቅያስ ወዳለበት፣ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ላከው። የጦር አዛዡም ወደ ልብስ ዐጣቢው ዕርሻ በሚወስደው መንገድ፣ በላይኛው ኵሬ ቦይ አጠገብ ደርሶ ቆመ፤ 3የቤተ መንግሥቱ አስተዳዳሪ፣ የኬልቅያስ ልጅ ኤልያቄም፣ ጸሓፊው ሳምናስ፣ ታሪክ መዝጋቢውም የአሳፍ ልጅ ዮአስ ወደ እርሱ ወጡ።
4የጦር አዛዡም እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ለሕዝቅያስ እንዲህ ብላችሁ ንገሩት፤
“ ‘ታላቁ ንጉሥ የአሦር ንጉሥ እንዲህ ይላል፤ እስከዚህ የተማመንህበት ነገር ምንድን ነው? 5የጦር ስልትና ጠንካራ ሰራዊት አለኝ ትላለህ፤ ነገር ግን ፍሬ ቢስ ቃል ብቻ ትናገራለህ። ለመሆኑ፣ በእኔ ላይ ያመፅኸው በማን ተማምነህ ነው? 6እነሆ፤ ሰው ሲመረኰዘው እጅ ወግቶ በሚያቈስለው፣ በተሰነጠቀ ሸንበቆ በግብፅ ተማምነሃል፤ የግብፅ ንጉሥ፣ ፈርዖንም ለሚታመኑበት ሁሉ እንዲሁ ነው። 7ደግሞም፣ “በአምላካችን በእግዚአብሔር እንታመናለን” የምትለኝ ከሆነ፣ የእርሱንማ ማምለኪያ ኰረብቶችና መሠዊያዎች ሕዝቅያስ አፍርሶበት ለይሁዳና ለኢየሩሳሌም፣ “እናንተ መስገድ ያለባችሁ እንዲህ ባለው በአንዱ መሠዊያ ፊት ብቻ ነው” ብሎ የለምን?
8“ ‘አሁን፣ ናና፣ ከጌታዬ ከአሦር ንጉሥ ጋር ተደራደር፤ የሚቀመጡባቸው ሰዎች ካሉህ፣ ሁለት ሺሕ ፈረሶች እሰጥሃለሁ። 9እንግዲህ በግብፅ ሠረገሎችና ፈረሰኞች የምትተማመን ከሆነ፣ ከጌታዬ መኰንንኖች አንዱን ዝቅተኛ መኰንን እንዴት መመለስ ይቻልሃል? 10ደግሞስ ይህን ምድር ለማጥቃትና ለማጥፋት የመጣሁት ያለ እግዚአብሔር ትእዛዝ ይመስልሃልን? እግዚአብሔር ራሱ በዚህ አገር ላይ ዘምቼ እንዳጠፋው ነግሮኛል።’ ”
11ኤልያቄምና ሳምናስ እንዲሁም ዮአስ የጦር አዛዡን፣ “እባክህ በምናውቀው በሶርያ ቋንቋ ለባሪያዎችህ ተናገረን፤ በቅጥሩ ላይ ያለው ሕዝብ በሚያውቀው በዕብራይስጥ ቋንቋ አትናገረን” አሉት።
12ነገር ግን የጦር አዛዡ መልሶ፣ “ጌታዬ እነዚህን ነገሮች እንድናገር የላከኝ ለጌታህና ለአንተ ብቻ ነበርን? እንደ እናንተ የራሳቸውን ኵስ ለመብላትና ሽንታቸውንም ለመጠጣት በቅጥሩ ላይ ለተቀመጡት ሰዎችም አይደለምን?” አላቸው።
13የጦር አዛዡም ቆሞ በዕብራይስጥ ቋንቋ በታላቅ ድምፅ እንዲህ አለ፤ “የታላቁን ንጉሥ፣ የአሦርን ንጉሥ ቃል ስሙ። 14ንጉሡ እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘ሕዝቅያስ አያታልላችሁ፤ እርሱ ሊያድናችሁም አይችልም።’ 15‘እግዚአብሔር በርግጥ ያድነናል፤ ይህች ከተማ ለአሦር አትሰጥም’ እያለ ሕዝቅያስ በእግዚአብሔር እንድትታመኑ አያድርጋችሁ።
16“ሕዝቅያስን አትስሙ። የአሦር ንጉሥ እንዲህ ይላችኋል፤ ‘ከእኔ ጋር ተስማሙ፤ ወደ እኔም ውጡ። ከዚያም እያንዳንዳችሁ ከወይናችሁና ከበለሳችሁ ትበላላችሁ፤ ከጕድጓዳችሁም ውሃ ትጠጣላችሁ፤ 17ይኸውም መጥቼ የእህልና የአዲስ ወይን ጠጅ ምድር ወደ ሆነችው፣ የእንጀራና የወይን ምድር ወደሆነችው፣ ምድራችሁን ወደ ምትመስል አገር እስካፈልሳችሁ ድረስ ነው።’
18“ሕዝቅያስ፣ ‘እግዚአብሔር ያድነናል’ በማለት አያታልላችሁ፤ ለመሆኑ፣ እስካሁን ምድሩን ከአሦር ንጉሥ እጅ ያዳነ የየትኛው ሕዝብ አምላክ ነው። 19የሐማትና የአርፋድ አማልክት የት አሉ? የሴፈርዋይም አማልክትስ የት አሉ? እነዚህ ሰማርያን ከእጄ አድነዋታልን? 20ከእነዚህ አገሮች አማልክት ሁሉ፣ ምድሩን ከእጄ ለማዳን የቻለ የትኛው ነው? ታዲያ፣ እግዚአብሔር እንዴት ኢየሩሳሌምን ከእጄ ሊያድን ይችላል?”
21ሕዝቡ ግን ንጉሡ፣ “መልስ አትስጡት” ብሎ አዝዞ ስለ ነበር፣ ዝም አሉ፤ አንዳችም አልመለሱለትም።
22የቤተ መንግሥት አስተዳዳሪ የነበረው የኬልቅያስ ልጅ ኤልያቄም፣ ጸሓፊው ሳምናስ፣ ታሪክ መዝጋቢው የአሳፍ ልጅ ዮአስ ልብሳቸውን ቀድደው ወደ ሕዝቅያስ መጡ፤ የጦር አዛዡ የተናገረውንም ሁሉ ነገሩት።
