Chapter 18

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

1 Now it came about ain the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that bHezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

2 He was atwenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

3 aHe did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

4 aHe removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the 1Asherah. He also broke in pieces bthe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called 2Nehushtan.

5 aHe trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; bso that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

6 For he aclung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Victorious

7 aAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And bhe rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

8 aHe 1defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from bwatchtower to fortified city.

9 Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, aShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.

10 At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was athe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured.

11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in aHalah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12 because they adid not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

Invasion of Judah

13 aNow in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “aI have done wrong. 1Withdraw from me; whatever you 2impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria 3required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 aHezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17 Then the king of Assyria sent aTartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the bconduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the 1fuller’s field.

18 When they called to the king, aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and bShebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

19 Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “aWhat is this confidence that you 1have?

20 “You say (but they are 1only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, athat you have rebelled against me?

21 “Now behold, you 1arely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 2hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

22 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and awhose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

23 “Now therefore, 1come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

24 “How then can you 1repulse one 2official of the least of my master’s servants, and 3rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25 “Have I now come up 1without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”

26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we 1understand it; and do not speak with us in 2aJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

27 But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, 1saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

29 “Thus says the king, ‘aDo not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from 1my hand;

30 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

31 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “1Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat aeach of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,

32 until I come and take you away ato a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”

33 ‘aHas any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 ‘aWhere are the gods of Hamath and bArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and 1cIvvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

35 ‘Who among all the gods of the lands 1have delivered their land from my hand, athat the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

37 Then aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah bwith their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.