2 Kings 18:1–20

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?