The context makes it clear that the Assyrian official did not switch languages as the three officials of Hezekiah had requested. This is confirmed in verse 28.

The men sitting on the wall: The shift from “people” in the previous verse to men here seems to be of no real importance. It is therefore acceptable to translate the idea of “people” in both cases.

To eat their own dung and to drink their own urine: This dramatic statement is intended to describe how desperate the plight of the people of Judah would be. In the siege of Samaria by King Benhadad of Syria, the besieged people are said to have paid high prices for such items as the head of a donkey and the excrement of birds (2 Kgs 6.25). The words used here depict a situation even more desperate. The words dung and urine will often be translated by euphemisms such as “waste” and “water.” But the meaning should be kept clear. Scribes corrected the Hebrew text to make it less offensive by placing the euphemistic words “their evacuation” and “the water of their feet” in the margin of the Masoretic Text.

The lengthy rhetorical question in this verse may be better translated as an affirmation even in languages where shorter rhetorical questions are quite acceptable. A part of the direct quotation may also be made into indirect discourse if necessary. A possible model is as follows:

• But the Assyrian official told them that his master had not sent him to speak these words only to them and their king. The message was also for the bystanders [on the wall]. He went on to say: “Just like you, they, too, are doomed to eat their own waste and to drink their own urine.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .