"
"Let the messenger be admitted, but let the guard remain behind."
The messenger was accordingly ushered into the presence of Jehoiakim.
"And what business of importance has brought thee into the presence of
the King of Judah?" asked Jehoiakim, with curling lip.
"I stand in thy presence as a bearer of a message from my sovereign
master, King of Babylon."
"Methinks I have seen thee on another occasion."
"And was not my behavior honorable and becoming?"
"Did the King of Judah say otherwise?"
"Yea, otherwise."
"How?"
"By his vile and haughty treatment of the king's ambassador."
"Be sparing with thine insolence, or at this time thou mayest fare far
worse."
"The Chaldean ambassador is not to be frightened by idle threats from one
who lives at the mercy of his master."
"Thinkest thou thyself safe because thou art surrounded with a few
soldiers? Knowest thou not that within my call there are hundreds of
armed men, ready to execute my will?"
"And knowest thou not that Jerusalem is in the hands of the Chaldeans,
and that threescore thousand men of war are stationed in the city?"
"Threescore thousand! But come, sir, what is the message of the King of
Babylon to the King of Judah? Let thy words be few.
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