2 From Lachish the king of Assyria sent his commander with a great army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When he stopped at the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field,
3 there came out to him the master of the palace, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, and Shebna the scribe, and the chancellor, Joah, son of Asaph.
4 The commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this trust of yours?
5 Do you think mere words substitute for strategy and might in war? In whom, then, do you place your trust, that you rebel against me?
6 Do you trust in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it? That is what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to all who trust in him.
7 Or do you say to me: It is in the Lord, our God, we trust? Is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Worship before this altar’?
8 “Now, make a wager with my lord, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put riders on them.