2 Kings 18:1–20
1 Now 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.
2 He 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.
3 aHe did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
4 aHe 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.
5 aHe 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.
6 For he aclung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
7 aAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And bhe rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8 aHe 1defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from bwatchtower to fortified city.
9 Now 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.
10 At 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.
11 Then 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,
12 because 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.
13 aNow in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.
14 Then 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.
15 aHezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At 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.
17 Then 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.
18 When 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.
19 Then 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?