^18:1In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. ^18:2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.¹ His mother² was Abi,³ the daughter of Zechariah. ^18:3He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.⁴^18:4He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole.⁵ He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time⁶ the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.⁷^18:5He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.⁸^18:6He was loyal to⁹ the Lord and did not abandon him.¹⁰ He obeyed the commandments which the Lord had given to¹¹ Moses. ^18:7The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors.¹² He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.¹³^18:8He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress.¹⁴

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Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 Heb “the name of his mother.”
3 The parallel passage in 2 Chr 29:1 has “Abijah.”
4 Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord, according to all which David his father had done.”
5 The term is singular in the but plural in the and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items. Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
6 Heb “until those days.”
7 In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nékhash hannékhoshet), “bronze serpent.”
8 Heb “and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, and those who were before him.”
9 Heb “he hugged.”
10 Heb “and did not turn aside from after him.”
11 Heb “had commanded.”
12 Heb “in all which he went out [to do], he was successful.”
13 Heb “and did not serve him.”
14 See the note at .