5 I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
6 Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
7 Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?
8 Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!
9 How then can you drive back a single officer among the weakest of my master’s officers and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’ ”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”