1 Now it came about A2 Kin 16:2; 17:1in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that B2 Chr 28:27Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. 2 He was A2 Chr 29:1, 2twenty-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 A2 Kin 20:3; 2 Chr 31:20He did right in the sight of the Loʀᴅ, according to all that his father David had done. 4 A2 Kin 18:22; 2 Chr 31:1He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the 1I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deityAsherah. He also broke in pieces BNum 21:8, 9the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called 2I.e. a piece of bronzeNehushtan. 5 A2 Kin 19:10He trusted in the Loʀᴅ, the God of Israel; B2 Kin 23:25so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he ADeut 10:20; Josh 23:8clung to the Loʀᴅ; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Loʀᴅ had commanded Moses.

7 AGen 39:2, 3; 1 Sam 18:14And the Loʀᴅ was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And B2 Kin 16:7he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 A2 Chr 28:18; Is 14:29He 1Lit smotedefeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from B2 Kin 17:9watchtower 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, A2 Kin 17:3-7Shalmaneser 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 A2 Kin 17:6the 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 A1 Chr 5:26Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they A1 Kin 9:6; Dan 9:6, 10did not obey the voice of the Loʀᴅ their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Loʀᴅ commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

13 A2 Chr 32:1; Is 36:1-39:8Now 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, “A2 Kin 18:7I have done wrong. 1Lit ReturnWithdraw from me; whatever you 2Lit giveimpose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria 3Lit put onrequired of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 A1 Kin 15:18, 19; 2 Kin 12:18; 16:8Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Loʀᴅ, 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 Loʀᴅ, 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 AIs 20:1Tartan 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 B2 Kin 20:20; Is 7:3conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the 1I.e. launderer’sfuller’s field. 18 When they called to the king, A2 Kin 19:2; Is 22:20Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and BIs 22:15Shebnah 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, “A2 Chr 32:10What is this confidence that you 1Lit trusthave? 20  “You say (but they are 1Lit a word of the lipsonly empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, A2 Kin 18:7that you have rebelled against me? 21  “Now behold, you 1Lit rely for yourselfAIs 30:2, 3, 7; Ezek 29:6, 7rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 2Lit palmhand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22  “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Loʀᴅ our God,’ is it not He whose high places and A2 Kin 18:4; 2 Chr 31:1whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23  “Now therefore, 1Lit please exchange pledgescome, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24  “How then can you 1Lit turn away the face ofrepulse one 2Or governorofficial of the least of my master’s servants, and 3Lit rely for yourselfrely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25  “Have I now come up 1Lit without the Loʀᴅwithout the Loʀᴅ’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Loʀᴅ said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”

26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we 1Lit hearunderstand it; and do not speak with us in 2I.e. HebrewAEzra 4:7; Dan 2:4Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But Rabshakeh 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, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, 1Lit and spoke, saying,saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29  “Thus says the king, ‘A2 Chr 32:15Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from 1Heb hismy hand; 30 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Loʀᴅ, saying, “The Loʀᴅ will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 31  ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “1Lit Make with me a blessingMake your peace with me and come out to me, and eat A1 Kin 4:20, 25each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away ADeut 8:7-9; 11:12to a land like your own 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.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Loʀᴅ will deliver us.” 33  ‘A2 Kin 19:12; Is 10:10, 11Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34  ‘A2 Kin 19:13Where are the gods of Hamath and BIs 10:9Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and 1In 2 Kin 17:24, AvvaC2 Kin 17:24Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35  ‘Who among all the gods of the lands 1Lit who havehave delivered their land from my hand, APs 2:1-3; 59:7that the Loʀᴅ should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then A2 Kin 18:26Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah B2 Kin 6:30with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.