²⁷ But the commander said, “My master sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you and your master. I must also speak to those people sitting there on the wall. When we surround your city, they will suffer too. Like you, they will become so hungry they will eat their own waste and drink their own urine!”

²⁸ Then the commander, shouting loudly in Hebrew,^[a] gave this warning to them all:

Hear this message from the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah fool you! He cannot save you from my power.