2 Kings 18:1–20

^*Now it came to pass in ^athe third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that ^b||Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was ^||Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. ^3cAnd he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. ^4dHe removed the high places, and brake the ^†images, and cut down ^ethe groves, and brake in pieces the ^fbrasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it ^||Nehushtan. ⁵He ^gtrusted in the Lord God of Israel; ^hso that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. ⁶For he ⁱclave to the Lord, and departed not ^†from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. ^7*And ^kthe Lord was with him; and he ^lprospered whithersoever he went forth: and he ^mrebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. ⁸He ⁿsmote the Philistines, even unto ^†Gaza, and the borders thereof, ^ofrom the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

⁹And ^pit came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. ^10**And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: ¹²Because ^qthey obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but ^rtransgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

^13*Now ^sin the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did ^†Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. ¹⁴And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to ^tLachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah ^uthree hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah ^xgave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house. ^16*At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave ^†it to the king of Assyria.

^17yAnd the king of Assyria sent ^zTartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a ^†great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by ^athe conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. ¹⁸And when they had called to the king, there came out to them ^bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and ^bShebna the ^||scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph ^cthe recorder. ¹⁹And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, ^dWhat confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ²⁰Thou ^||sayest, (but they are but ^†vain words,) ^||I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?