2 Kings 18:1–20

¹And it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi, daughter of Zechariah. ³And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among any that were before him. ⁶And he clave to Jehovah, and did not turn aside from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁷And Jehovah was with him; he prospered whithersoever he went forth. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. ⁸He smote the Philistines unto Gazah and its borders, from the watchmen’s tower to the fortified city.

⁹And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹And the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; ¹²because they hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded; and they would not hear nor do it. ¹³And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. ¹⁴And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have sinned; retire from me: I will bear what thou layest upon me. And the king of Assyria laid upon Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and the posts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish, with a strong force, against king Hezekiah, to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller’s field. ¹⁸And they called to the king. Then came forth to them Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the chronicler. ¹⁹And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ²⁰Thou sayest—but it is a word of the lips—There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou rely, that thou hast revolted against me?