¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(F) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷ But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(G) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(H) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(I) 32} until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(J) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³ Has the god^(K) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath^(L) and Arpad?^(M) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(N)

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim,^(A) in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel,^(B) listen to me! ⁵ Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever^(C) by a covenant of salt?^{(D) 6} Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled^(E) against his master. ⁷ Some worthless scoundrels^(F) gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive^(G) and not strong enough to resist them.

⁸ “And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants.^(H) You are indeed a vast army and have with you^(I) the golden calves^(J) that Jeroboam made to be your gods. ⁹ But didn’t you drive out the priests^(K) of the Lord,^(L) the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull^(M) and seven rams^(N) may become a priest of what are not gods.^(O)

¹⁰ “As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. ¹¹ Every morning and evening^(P) they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense^(Q) to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table^(R) and light the lamps^(S) on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. ¹² God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you.^(T) People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord,^(U) the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”^(V)