18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser 1 from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, 2 along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went 3 and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 4
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, 5 for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect 6 in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
1 sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
3 tn Heb “and they went up and came.”
4 tn Heb “the field of the washer.”
5 sn Aramaic was the diplomatic language of the empire.
6 tn Or “Hebrew.”