CHAPTER 18
1 In the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, reigned Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah.
2 He was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem nine and twenty years; the name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did that, that was good before the Lord, by all things that David, his father, had done.
4 And he destroyed [the] high places, and all-brake [the] images, and cut down [the maumet] woods, and he brake the brazen serpent, whom Moses had made; for unto that time the sons of Israel burnt incense to it; and he called the name of it Nehushtan.
5 And he hoped in the Lord God of Israel; therefore after him none was like him of all the kings of Judah, but neither also in the kings that were before him.
6 And he cleaved to the Lord, and went not away from his steps, and he did the commandments of the Lord, which the Lord commanded to Moses;
7 wherefore and the Lord was with him, and he governed wisely himself in all things, to which he went forth. Also he rebelled against the king of Assyrians, and therefore he served not to him;
8 and he smote [the] Philistines till to Gaza, and all the terms of them, from the tower of the keepers unto a city made strong.
9 In the fourth year of king Heze-kiah, that was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyrians, went up to Samaria, and fought against it,
10 and took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken;
11 and the king of Assyrians translated or brought over Israel into Assyrians, and he set them in Halah, and in Habor, rivers of Gozan, in the cities of Medes;
12 for they heard not the voice of their Lord God, but they brake his covenant; they heard not, neither did all things, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, [had] commanded.
13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyr-ians, went up to all the strengthened cities of Judah, and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyrians into Lachish, and said, I have sinned; go away from me, and I shall bear all things, that thou shalt put to me. Therefore the king of Assyrians putted on Hezekiah, king of Judah, a fine of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures [or treasuries], to the king of Assyrians.
16 In that time Hezekiah brake the gates of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold, which he had fastened to them, and he gave those [or them] to the king of Assyrians.
17 Forsooth the king of Assyrians sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish to king Hezekiah, with strong hand to Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is in the way of the fuller, either tucker.
18 And they called the king; soothly Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, chancellor, the son of Asaph, went out to them.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them, Speak ye to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is this trust, in which thou enforcest or endeavourest thee?
20 In hap thou hast taken counsel, that thou wouldest make thee ready to battle. In whom trustest thou, that thou be fool-hardy to rebel against Sennacherib?
21 Whether thou hopest in a staff of a reed and broken, that is, upon Egypt, on which, if a man leaneth, it shall be broken, and shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.
22 That if thou sayest to me, We have trust in the Lord our God; whether this is not he, whose high things and altars Hezekiah took away, and commanded to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23 Now therefore, give ye weds to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to you two thousand of horses, and see ye, whether ye may have riders of them?
24 And how may ye withstand before one prince of the least servants of my lord? Whether thou hast trust in Egypt, for chariots and knights thereof?
25 Whether I ascended [or went] up without God’s will to this place, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou [or Go ye up] to this land, and destroy thou it.
26 Forsooth Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, We pray thee, that thou speak by the language of Syria to us, thy servants; for we understand this language; and that thou speak not to us by the language of Jews, while the people heareth, which is on the wall.
27 And Rabshakeh answered, and said, Whether my lord sent me to thy lord and to thee, that I should speak these words, and not rather to the men that sit on the wall, that they eat their turds, and drink their piss with you?
28 Therefore Rabshakeh stood, and cried with [a] great voice by language of Jews, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyrians.
29 The king saith these things, Hezekiah deceive not you, for he may not deliver you from mine hand;
30 neither give he trust to you on the Lord, and say, The Lord delivering shall deliver us, and this city shall not be betaken in the hand of the king of Assyrians;
31 do not ye hear Hezekiah. For the king of Assyrians saith these things, Do ye with me that, that is profitable to you, and go ye out to me; and each man shall eat of his vinery [or vine], and of his fig tree, and ye shall drink waters of your cisterns,
32 till I come, and translate you, or bear you over, into a land which is like your land, into a fruitful land, and plenteous of wine, a land of bread, and of vineries [or vines], a land of olive trees, and of oil, and of honey; and ye shall live, and ye shall not die. Do not ye hear Hezekiah, that deceiveth you, and saith, The Lord shall deliver you.
33 Whether the gods of heathen men delivered their land from the hand of the king of Assyrians?
34 Where is [the] god of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where is [the] god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah? Whether they delivered Samaria from mine hand?
35 For who be they in all [the] gods of lands, that delivered their country from mine hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem from mine hand?
36 Therefore the people was still, and answered not anything to him; for they had taken commandment of the king, that they should not answer to him.
37 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the chancellor, the son of Asaph, came with rent clothes to Hezekiah; and told to him the words of Rabshakeh.