2Kings 18

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

18IN THE third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.H7969H8141H1954H1121H425H4428H3478H2396H1121H271H4428H3063H44272He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi daughter of Zechariah.H6242H2568H8141H1121H4427H4427H6242H8672H8141H3389H517H8034H21H1323H21483Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his [forefather] had done.H6213H3477H5869H3068H1732H1H62134He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherim, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [a bronze trifle].H5493H1116H7665H4676H3772H842H3807H5178H5175H4872H6213H3117H1121H3478H6999H7121H51805Hezekiah trusted in, leaned on, {and} was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before him was any one of all the kings of Judah like him.H982H3068H430H3478H310H4428H3063H64406For he clung {and} held fast to the Lord and ceased not to follow Him, but kept His commandments, as the Lord commanded Moses.H1692H3068H5493H310H8104H4687H3068H6680H4872

Hezekiah Victorious

7And the Lord was with Hezekiah; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.H3068H7919H3318H4775H4428H804H56478He smote the Philistines, even to Gaza [the most distant city] and its borders, from the [isolated] watchtower to the [populous] fortified city.H5221H6430H5804H1366H4026H5341H4013H58929In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.H7243H8141H4428H2396H7637H8141H1954H1121H425H4428H3478H8022H4428H804H5927H8111H669610After three years it was taken; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.H7097H7969H8141H3920H8337H8141H2396H8672H8141H1954H4428H3478H8111H392011The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,H4428H804H1540H3478H804H5148H2477H2249H5104H1470H5892H407412Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear it or do it.H8085H6963H3068H430H5674H1285H4872H5650H3068H6680H8085H6213

Invasion of Judah

13In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.H702H6240H8141H4428H2396H5576H4428H804H5927H1219H5892H3063H861014Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have done wrong. Depart from me; what you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria exacted of Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.H2396H4428H3063H7971H4428H804H3923H559H2398H7725H5414H5375H4428H804H7760H2396H4428H3063H7969H3967H3603H3701H7970H3603H209115And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house.H2396H5414H3701H4672H1004H3068H214H4428H100416Then Hezekiah stripped off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which he as king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.H6256H2396H7112H1817H1964H3068H547H2396H4428H3063H6823H5414H4428H80417And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh [the high officials] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. They went up to Jerusalem, and when they arrived, they came and stood by the canal of the Upper Pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field.H4428H804H7971H8661H7249H7262H3923H4428H2396H3515H2426H3389H5927H935H3389H5927H935H5975H8585H5945H1295H4546H3526H770418When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the king's household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.H7121H4428H3318H471H1121H2518H1004H7644H5608H3098H1121H623H214219The Rabshakeh told them, Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king of Assyria: What justifies this confidence of yours?H7262H559H559H2396H559H1419H4428H4428H804H986H98220You say--but they are empty words--There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom do you rely, that you rebel against me?H559H8193H1697H6098H1369H4421H982H477521Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff; if a man leans on it, it will pierce his hand. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust {and} rely on him.H982H4938H7533H7070H4714H376H5564H935H3709H5344H6547H4428H4714H98222But if you tell me, We trust in {and} rely on the Lord our God, is it not He Whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?H559H982H3068H430H1116H4196H2396H5493H559H3063H3389H7812H6440H4196H338923So now, make a wager {and} give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria: I will deliver you 2,000 horses--if you can on your part put riders on them.H6148H113H4428H804H5414H505H5483H3201H5414H739224How then can you beat back one captain among the least of my master's servants, when your trust is put in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?H7725H6440H259H6346H6996H113H5650H982H4714H7393H657125Have I come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.H5927H1107H3068H4725H7843H3068H559H5927H776H784326Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, We pray you, speak to your servants in the Aramaic (Syrian) language, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people on the wall.H559H471H1121H2518H7644H3098H7262H1696H5650H762H8085H1696H3066H241H5971H234627But the Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and you only to say these things? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall [whom Hezekiah has doomed to be forced] to eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you?H7262H559H113H7971H113H1696H1697H582H3427H2346H398H6675H2755H8354H4325H7272H789028Then the Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, Hear the word of the great king of Assyria!H7262H5975H7121H1419H6963H3066H1696H559H8085H1697H1419H4428H4428H80429Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you. For he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.H559H4428H2396H5377H3201H5337H302730Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in {and} rely on the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of Assyria's king.H2396H982H3068H559H3068H5337H5337H5892H5414H3027H4428H80431Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat every man from his own vine and fig tree and drink every man the waters of his own cistern,H8085H2396H559H4428H804H6213H1293H3318H398H376H1612H376H8384H8354H376H4325H95332Until I come and take you away to a land like your own, a land of grain and vintage fruit, of bread and vineyards, of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he urges you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.H935H3947H776H776H776H1715H8492H776H3899H3754H776H3323H2132H1706H2421H4191H8085H2396H5496H559H3068H533733Has any one of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?H376H430H1471H5337H5337H776H3027H4428H80434Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad [in Syria]? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah [in the Euphrates Valley]? Have they delivered Samaria [Israel's capital] out of my hand?H430H2574H774H430H5617H2012H5755H5337H8111H302735Who of all the gods of the countries has delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?H430H776H5337H776H3027H3068H5337H3389H302736But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, Do not answer him.H5971H2790H6030H1697H4428H4687H559H603037Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the royal household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him what the Rabshakeh had said.H935H471H1121H2518H1004H7644H5608H3098H1121H623H2142H2396H899H7167H5046H1697H7262