1 Now 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.
2 And 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.
3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
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?
5 I 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?
6 Lo, 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.
7 But 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?
8 Now 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.
9 How 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?
10 And 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?
13 Then 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.
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
15 Neither 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.
16 Hearken 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;
17 Until 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.
18 Beware 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?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20 Who 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?
21 But 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.
<html><b>near the conduit</b> fosed (fosse) in French, (a ditch, a trench, a moat.) <b>the pool</b> A place where water is gathered, dug in the ground by man, in which to put fish. It is long and wide. <b>on the road</b> A paved road. (chemin in French.) <b>the washer’s field</b> Jonathan renders: A field where the washers stretch out, i.e., where the washers stretch out the garments.</html>
<html><b>the recorder</b> The writer of the records in the annals. (Another explanation: He would record which judgment came before him first, that he adjudicate it first.)</html>
<html><b>I said</b> (until now), “It is but words of the lips, that he speaks (lit., in his mouth), saying, ‘I will not serve the king of Assyria.’ And when he sees that I will march against him with an army, he will recant. Now I have marched. From now on, either he will serve me, or he will need to seek counsel and might for war.” <b>Now</b> that the time has come, tell me now on whom you have depended to rebel against me.</html>
<html><b>upon which a man will lean</b> On the splintered and broken reed, and the scaly envelopes enter his palm and puncture it, so is Pharaoh to those who trust him. Eventually, their aid will be to their detriment.</html>
<html><b>Whose high places…has removed</b> He abolished all the pagan temples and the altars and the high places, and has coerced all Judah to prostrate themselves before one altar.</html>
<html><b>wager now</b> on this matter, if you will be able to accomplish it. This is an expression of a wager, which is called gajjer in O.F.</html>
<html><b>And how can you repulse</b> even a captain, who is one of my master’s smallest servants, for the smallest of the heads of his troops is in charge of two thousand men. <b>one of…servants</b> (אַחַד) one of the servants of. Comp. (Gen. 21:15) “One of (אַחַד) the bushes.” Also (II Sam. 6:20) “One of (אַחַד) the idlers.”</html>
<html><b>is it [with] other than the Lord</b> Without His permission? <b>The Lord said to me</b> The prophets have already prophesied (supra 8:4): “The wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria shall be carried off before the king of Assyria.” But he erred, saying (supra 10:11), “Indeed, as I did to Samaria…, so will I do to Jerusalem…”</html>
<html><b>for we understand it</b> (שֹׁמְעִים, lit. hear.) We understand that language, an expression of hearing (entendenc in O.F.). <b>do not speak with us in Judean</b> for all the people understand the Judean language, and they are frightened by your words. (Since he said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah,” they thought that he did not come to frighten the people. Since Rabshakeh was an apostate Jew, they thought that even though his master’s orders were incumbent upon Rabshakeh to observe, his heart was attracted to his family and he would take pity upon them.)</html>
<html><b>Did…to your master</b> (הַאֶל) This is the interrogative form. It is therefore vowelized with a ‘hataf pattah’ (not so in our editions). Did my master send me to you two alone? Indeed, he sent me to all of them, and for that reason I have come, so that all the people hear and see, and let not Hezekiah persuade them to rebel. <b>to eat their dung</b> They too (sic) would eat in the hunger of the siege. <b>their dung</b> The kethib reads חֹרָאֵיהֶם, the dung that is excreted through their orifice. Our Sages instituted to euphemize and read it צוֹאָתָם, i.e., their dung. Thus did our Rabbis teach: Verses written in uncomplimentary words are to be read in a complimentary manner, e.g., (Deut. 28:27) עֲפֹלִים (is read) טְחֹרִים. (Both mean hemorrhoids. The former means ‘that which is in the dark holes,’ being more explicit than the latter. (ibid. v. 30) יִשְׁגָּלֶנָּה (is to be read) יִשְׁכָּבֶנָּה. (Both denoting intimacy, the former related as well to a dog.) חֹרָאֵיהֶם (is to be read) צוֹאָתָם, שִׁינֵיהֶם (is to be read) מֵימֵי רַגְלֵיהֶם. <b>their urine</b> The kethib is שִׁינֵיהֶם, loose excrement. The teeth of the large intestine. That is the intestine called tabahie in O.F. that stands on three teeth, (i.e. the glands of the rectum, which is held by three glands. They are called שִׁנַּיִּם because they are shaped like teeth).</html>
<html><b>deceive</b> (יַשִּׁיא) mislead.</html>
<html><b>Make peace with me</b> (בְרָכָה, lit., a blessing.) Come out to me for peace and greet me and bring me a gift of peace. בְּרָכָה is saloud in O.F., salutation. Comp. (Gen. 47:10) “And Jacob greeted Pharaoh.” <b>and each man will eat of his vine</b> And I will leave you, and dwell in peace until I find a land as good as your land, and I will exile you there, for so is my wont, to transfer nations from land to land, as it is said (supra 10:13): “And I remove the boundaries of the peoples.”</html>
<html><b>to a land like your land</b> Said Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: Was this one (Sennacherib) a fool? This is an example of a king, etc. in Sifre, parshath Ekev (Deut. 7:12). He should have said, “to a land better than your land,” but he could not denigrate it.</html>
<html><b>Now did they save Samaria from my hand?</b> and the inhabitants of Samaria worshipped the Gods of the Arameans, who were their neighbors, and Hamath is from Aram.</html>
<html><b>with torn garments</b> Because they heard blasphemies of the Name of God, and that is tantamount to cursing the Name.</html>