4 The 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?
5 You say you have counsel and might for war – but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
6 Look, 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.
7 But 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!
9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 Furthermore, 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.” ’