2 Kings 18:1–20

JUDAH’S KING HEZEKIAH

18In the third year of Israel’s King Hoshea^f son of Elah, Hezekiah^g son of Ahaz became king of Judah. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. ³He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestor David had done.^{h 4}He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.ⁱ He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made,^j for until then the Israelites were burning incense to it. It was called Nehushtan.^B

⁵Hezekiah relied on the Lord God of Israel;^k not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.^{l 6}He remained faithful to the Lord^m and did not turn from following him but kept the commands the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁷The Lord was with him, and wherever he went he prospered.ⁿ He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.^{o 8}He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders,^p from watchtower^q to fortified city.

REVIEW OF ISRAEL’S FALL

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Assyria’s King Shalmaneser marched against Samaria and besieged it.^{r 10}The Assyrians captured it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Israel’s King Hoshea, Samaria was captured. ¹¹The king of Assyria deported the Israelites to Assyria and put them in Halah, along the Habor (Gozan’s river), and in the cities of the Medes,^{s 12}because they did not listen to the Lord their God but violated his covenant—all he had commanded Moses the servant of the Lord. They did not listen, and they did not obey.^t

SENNACHERIB’S INVASION

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Assyria’s King Sennacherib attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.^{u 14}So King Hezekiah of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^v “I have done wrong;^w withdraw from me. Whatever you demand from me, I will pay.” The king of Assyria demanded eleven tons^C of silver and one ton^D of gold from King Hezekiah of Judah. ¹⁵So Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord’s sanctuary and from the doorposts he had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.^x

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent the field marshal,^y the chief of staff, and his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.^z They advanced and came to Jerusalem, and^A they took their position by the aqueduct of the upper pool, by the road to the Launderer’s Field.^{aa 18}They called for the king, but Eliakim^ab son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebnah^ac the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to them.^ad

THE ROYAL SPOKESMAN’S SPEECH

¹⁹Then^ae the royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: ‘What are you relying on?^{Baf 20}You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on so that you have rebelled against me?^ag