2 Kings 18–19

Hezekiah King of Judah

18:2–4pp—2Ch 29:1–2; 31:1 18:5–7pp—2Ch 31:20–21 18:9–12pp—2Ki 17:3–7

18In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah^p son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.^q His mother’s name was Abijah^a daughter of Zechariah. ³He did what was right^r in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David^s had done. ⁴He removed^t the high places,^u smashed the sacred stones^v and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake^w Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.^b)

⁵Hezekiah trusted^x in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. ⁶He held fast^y to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷And the Lord was with him; he was successful^z in whatever he undertook. He rebelled^a against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸From watchtower to fortified city,^b he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.

⁹In King Hezekiah’s fourth year,^c which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹The king^d of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.^{e 12}This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant^f—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.^g They neither listened to the commands^h nor carried them out.

¹³In the fourteenth yearⁱ of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^j and captured them. ¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^k “I have done wrong.^l Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^c of silver and thirty talents^d of gold. ¹⁵So Hezekiah gave^m him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doorsⁿ and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

18:13, 17–37pp—Isa 36:1–22 18:17–35pp—2Ch 32:9–19

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^o his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^p on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for the king; and Eliakim^q son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^r the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence^s of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,^t that splintered reed of a staff,^u which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²²But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

²³“ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ²⁴How can you repulse one officer^v of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen^e? ²⁵Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?^w The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^x since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^y you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^z and drink water from your own cistern,^{a 32}until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^b and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³Has the god^c of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath^d and Arpad?^e Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^f

³⁶But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim^g son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^h and told him what the field commander had said.

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

19:1–13pp—Isa 37:1–13

19When King Hezekiah heard this, he toreⁱ his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ²He sent Eliakim^j the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,^k all wearing sackcloth,^l to the prophet Isaiah^m son of Amoz. ³They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the momentⁿ of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^o the living God, and that he will rebuke^p him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant^q that still survives.”

⁵When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid^r of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^s me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report,^t I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.^u’ ”

⁸When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,^v he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.^w

⁹Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,^a was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend^x on deceive^y you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver^z them—the gods of Gozan,^a Harran,^b Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”^c

Hezekiah’s Prayer

19:14–19pp—Isa 37:14–20

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter^d from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^e you alone^f are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Give ear,^g Lord, and hear;^h open your eyes,ⁱ Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁷“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods^j but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.^{k 19}Now, Lord our God, deliver^l us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms^m of the earth may knowⁿ that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall

19:20–37pp—Isa 37:21–38 19:35–37pp—2Ch 32:20–21

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard^o your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken against^p him:

“ ‘Virgin Daughter^q Zion

despises^r you and mocks^s you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head^t as you flee.

²²Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^u

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One^v of Israel!

²³By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,^w

“With my many chariots^x

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut down^y its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.

I have reached its remotest parts,

the finest of its…