Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
Then came Eliakim ... to Hezekiah, with their clothes rent. The rending of a portion of the outer garment was a common and very significant token of grief and dismay among the Jews, as other Eastern people. On the present occasion the act was expressive of both these emotions-grief at the gravity of the national crisis, dismay at the daring blasphemies of the Assyrian.