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Rabshakeh

Chief of the princes, the name given to the chief cup-bearer or the vizier of the Assyrian court; one of Sennacherib’s messengers to Hezekiah. See the speech he delivered, in the Hebrew language, in the hearing of all the people, as he stood near the wall on the north side of the city (2 Kings 18:17-37). He and the other envoys returned to their master and reported that Hezekiah and his people were obdurate, and would not submit.

Also from Smith's (1884) +

(chief cupbearer), (2 Kings 19:1; Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:1) ... one of the officers of the king of Assyria sent against Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. [Hezekiah] (B.C. 713.) The English version takes Rabshakeh as the name of a person; but it is more probably the name of the office which he held at the court, that of chief cupbearer.

In the Bible

16

Verses where Rabshakeh is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).

  • 2 Kings 18:17

    Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

  • 2 Kings 18:19

    The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?

  • 2 Kings 18:26

    Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

  • 2 Kings 18:27

    But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

  • 2 Kings 18:28

    Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!

  • 2 Kings 18:37

    Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

+10 more verses naming Rabshakeh.

Scripture on Rabshakeh

4

Entries that reference Rabshakeh

5

Rabshakeh references

6

See all 6 +

Sources · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)

Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.