2 Kings 18:1–20

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18^hIn the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ⁱHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ²He was ^jtwenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^kAbi the daughter of Zechariah. ^3lAnd he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ^4mHe removed the high places and broke the ⁿpillars and cut down ^othe Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^pthe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).^{1 5q}He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, ^rso that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ^6sFor he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. ^7tAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ^uhe prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ^8vHe struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, ^wfrom watchtower to fortified city.

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^xShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, ¹⁰and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ^yHalah, and on the ^yHabor, ^ythe river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because 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. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

^13zIn 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 at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” ^aAnd the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents² of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah ^bgave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷And the king of Assyria sent the ^cTartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by ^dthe conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field. ¹⁸And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^eEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^fShebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ²⁰Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?