18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
18:3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.
18:4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
18:5 Hezekiah trusted 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.
18:6 He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.
18:7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
18:8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.
18:9 In King Hezekiah’s fourth year, 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.
18:10 At 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.
18:11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.
18:12 This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant–all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.
18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
18:14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. 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 of silver and thirty talents of gold.
18:15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
18:16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
18:17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, 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, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.
18:18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
18:19 The 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 of yours?
18:20 You say you have strategy and military strength–but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
18:21 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
18:22 And 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”?
18:23 “‘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!
18:24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
18:25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
18:26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
18:27 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall–who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?”
18:28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand.
18:30 Do 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.’
18:31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
18:32 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 and not death! “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’
18:33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
18:35 Who 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?”
18:36 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
18:37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
18:1 And in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, the king of Judah, began to reign.
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
18:3 And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.
18:4 He removed the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherah and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
18:5 He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel, so that after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any among those who were before him.
18:6 And he clung to Jehovah; he did not turn away from following after Him but kept His commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.
18:7 And Jehovah was with him; everywhere he went, he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
18:8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from the watchmen s tower to the fortified city.
18:9 And in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
18:10 And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
18:11 And the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes;
18:12 For they would not listen to the voice of Jehovah their God but transgressed His covenant, that is, all that Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded; and they would not listen to it nor do it.
18:13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
18:14 And Hezekiah the king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have sinned; withdraw from me. I will bear whatever you impose upon me. And the king of Assyria imposed upon Hezekiah the king of Judah a levy of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
18:15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king s house.
18:16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the temple of Jehovah and the posts that Hezekiah the king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.
18:17 And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great force. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road to the Fuller s Field.
18:18 And they called out to the king. And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.
18:19 And the Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this confidence in which you trust?
18:20 You say (but it is a vain word), There is counsel and strength for war. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
18:21 You now have put your trust in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, in that which, if a man should lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
18:22 And if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship only before this altar in Jerusalem?
18:23 Now therefore give pledges to my master, the king of Assyria; and I will give you two thousand horses, if indeed you are able to set the riders on them.
18:24 How then can you refuse one official of the least of my master s servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
18:25 Have I now come up apart from Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
18:26 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebnah and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it; and do not speak with us in the Jews language in the hearing of the people who are upon the wall.
18:27 But the Rab-shakeh 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, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
18:28 And the Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews language and spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
18:29 Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, because he is not able to deliver you out of my hand.
18:30 Neither let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and let each eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree, and let each drink the waters of his own cistern,
18:32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your 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. So do not listen to Hezekiah when he tries to persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us.
18:33 Have any of the gods of the nations delivered at all their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
18:35 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
18:36 But the people were silent and did not answer him a word, because of the commandment of the king that said, You shall not answer him.
18:37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rab-shakeh.