18It happened in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. ²He was twenty-five years old^a when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ³He did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his ancestor^b had done. ⁴He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to those days the Israelites^c were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah. ⁶He held on to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, and he kept his commands that Yahweh had commanded Moses. ⁷Yahweh was with him; everywhere he went, he succeeded. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸He attacked the Philistines up to Gaza and its territory from the watchtower up to the fortified city.

⁹It happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, that is, the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came against Samaria and laid siege against her. ¹⁰At the end of three years, he captured it in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel; Samaria was captured. ¹¹Then the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen to nor did they obey.

Sennacherib of Assyria Invades Judah

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. What you impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵Then Hezekiah gave all of the silver found in the temple of Yahweh and in the storerooms of the house of the king. ¹⁶At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷So the king of Assyria sent the commander in chief, the chief eunuch, and the chief advisor^d from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a heavy army. They went up and came to Jerusalem, then they went up and came and stood at the aqueduct of the upper pool which is on the main road of the washer’s^e field. ¹⁸Then they called to the king, so Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

Assyrians Advise against Trust in Yahweh

¹⁹Then the chief advisor said to them, “Please say to Hezekiah: ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What is this confidence that you trust? ²⁰You think only a word of lips, ‘I have advice and power for the war.’ Now, on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me?

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Footnotes

aLiterally “a son of twenty and five years”
bOr “father”
cLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
dTraditionally “Rabshekah”
eOr “fuller’s”