²⁰ You’re saying—but they’re only empty words—‘I have enough^[a] advice and resources to conduct warfare!’

‘“Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Look, you’re trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it’s a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him!

²² ‘“Of course, you might tell me, “We rely on the Lord our God!” But isn’t it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, “You’re to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?”’