Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 Now it came to pass in the third year of aHoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that bHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was cAbi 1the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

4 dHe removed the 2high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the 3wooden image and broke in pieces the ebronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it 4Nehushtan. 5 He ftrusted in the Lord God of Israel, gso that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he hheld fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord iwas with him; he jprospered wherever he went. And he krebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 lHe 5subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, mfrom watchtower to fortified city.

9 Now nit came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, othe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 pThen the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them qin Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they rdid not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

13 And sin the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah tgave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave 6it to the king of Assyria.