6 You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick — it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him.”
7 The Assyrian official went on, “Or will you tell me that you are relying on the Lord your God? It was the Lord's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship at one altar only.
8 I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many riders.
9 You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry.
10 Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord's help? The Lord himself told me to attack it and destroy it.”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the official, “Speak Aramaic to us. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening.”
12 He replied, “Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will.”