2 Kings 18–19

Chapter 18

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹Now it came about ^ain the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that ^bHezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

²He was ^atwenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

^3aHe did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4aHe removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the ¹Asherah. He also broke in pieces ^bthe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called ²Nehushtan.

^5aHe trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; ^bso that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

⁶For he ^aclung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Victorious

^7aAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And ^bhe rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

^8aHe ¹defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from ^bwatchtower to fortified city.

⁹Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, ^aShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.

¹⁰At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ^athe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured.

¹¹Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in ^aHalah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

¹²because they ^adid not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

Invasion of Judah

^13aNow in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

¹⁴Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “^aI have done wrong. ¹Withdraw from me; whatever you ²impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria ³required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

^15aHezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent ^aTartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^bconduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the ¹fuller’s field.

¹⁸When they called to the king, ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^bShebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

¹⁹Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “^aWhat is this confidence that you ¹have?

²⁰“You say (but they are ¹only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, ^athat you have rebelled against me?

²¹“Now behold, you ^1arely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his ²hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

²²“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and ^awhose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

²³“Now therefore, ¹come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

²⁴“How then can you ¹repulse one ²official of the least of my master’s servants, and ³rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

²⁵“Have I now come up ¹without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”

²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we ¹understand it; and do not speak with us in ^2aJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, ¹saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

²⁹“Thus says the king, ‘^aDo not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from ¹my hand;

³⁰nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

³¹‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “¹Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat ^aeach of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,

³²until I come and take you away ^ato a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”

³³‘^aHas any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

³⁴‘^aWhere are the gods of Hamath and ^bArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and ^1cIvvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

³⁵‘Who among all the gods of the lands ¹have delivered their land from my hand, ^athat the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

³⁶But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^bwith their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Chapter 19

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

^1aAnd when King Hezekiah heard it, he ^btore his clothes, ^ccovered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord.

²Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, ^acovered with sackcloth, to ^bIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver.

⁴‘^aPerhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^bto reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^cthe remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the ^aservants of the king of Assyria ^bhave blasphemed Me.

⁷“Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that ^ahe will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And ^bI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib Defies God

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^aLibnah, for he had heard that ¹the king had left ^bLachish.

⁹When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ¹Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying,

¹⁰“Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ¹Judah, ‘Do not ^alet your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, “^bJerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

¹¹‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be ¹spared?

¹²‘^aDid the gods of ¹those nations which my fathers destroyed deliver them, even ^bGozan and ^cHaran and Rezeph and ^dthe sons of Eden who were in Telassar?

¹³‘^aWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’ ”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴Then ^aHezekiah took the ¹letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and ²spread it out before the Lord.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^awho are ¹enthroned above the cherubim, ^bYou are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁶“^aIncline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^bopen Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^cto reproach the living God.

¹⁷“Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands

¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire, ^afor they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

¹⁹“Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand ^athat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O ^bLord, are God.”

God’s Answer through Isaiah

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^aI have heard you.’

²¹“This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

‘She has despised you and mocked you,

^aThe virgin daughter of Zion;

She ^bhas shaken her head behind you,

The daughter of Jerusalem!

²²‘Whom have you ^areproached and ^bblasphemed?

And against whom have you raised your voice,

And ¹haughtily lifted up your eyes?

Against the ^cHoly One of Israel!

²³‘^aThrough your messengers you have reproached the Lord,

And you have said, “With my many chariots

I came up to the heights of the mountains,

To the remotest parts of Lebanon;

And I ¹cut down its tall cedars and its…