2 KingsChapter 18

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¹Hoshea son of Elah had been king of Israel for three years. That year Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah. ²He was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Abi. She was the daughter of Zechariah. ³Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He did just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴He removed the high places. He smashed the sacred stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. He also broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made. It was called Nehushtan. Up until that time, the Israelites had been burning incense to it. ⁵Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no other king of Judah like him, before him or after him. ⁶He stayed faithful to the LORD and never stopped following him. He kept the commands that the LORD had given Moses. ⁷The LORD was with Hezekiah, and he did well in everything he did. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ⁸He defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and the land around it. He beat them everywhere, from the smallest watchtower to the biggest walled city. ⁹Hezekiah had been king for four years. It was also Hoshea's seventh year as king of Israel. That year Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and surrounded it with his army. ¹⁰After three years, the Assyrians captured it. So Samaria fell in Hezekiah's sixth year as king. It was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹The king of Assyria took the Israelites away as captives to Assyria. He made them live in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹²This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God. They broke his covenant. They broke all that Moses, the LORD's servant, had commanded. They would not listen, and they would not obey. ¹³In Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked. He captured all the walled cities of Judah. ¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. He said, "I have done wrong. Pull your army back from me. I will pay whatever you ask." So the king of Assyria made Hezekiah king of Judah pay 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.a ¹⁵Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD. He also gave him all the silver in the treasure rooms of the royal palace. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped off the gold he had used to cover the doors and doorposts of the LORD's temple. He gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷But the king of Assyria still sent his top commander, his chief officer, and his field commander from Lachish. They came with a large army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They marched up to Jerusalem. They stopped by the water channel of the upper pool. It was on the road to the field where cloth was washed.b ¹⁸They called for the king. So three men went out to them. They were Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, who kept the records. ¹⁹The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in? Why are you so sure of yourself? ²⁰You say you have a plan and the strength for war. But those are just empty words. Who are you trusting in now, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹Look! You are trusting in Egypt. Egypt is like a cracked reed used as a walking stick. If you lean on it, it will stab your hand. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to all who trust in him. ²²But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has torn down? Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.' ²³So now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, if you can find enough riders to put on them! ²⁴You depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. So how can you push back even one officer, the least of my master's servants? ²⁵And do you think I came to attack and destroy this place without the LORD? The LORD himself told me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'" ²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to us your servants in Aramaic. We understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew. The people on the wall can hear you." ²⁷But the field commander answered, "Did my master send me to say these things only to you and your master? No! He sent me to the men sitting on the wall too. Like you, they will soon have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine." ²⁸Then the field commander stood and shouted in Hebrew, "Listen to the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah fool you. He can't save you from my power. ³⁰Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD. He says, 'The LORD will surely save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' ³¹Don't 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 from your own grapevine and your own fig tree. Each of you will drink water from your own well. ³²Then I will come and take you away to a land like your own. It is a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. It is a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. But don't listen to Hezekiah. He is fooling you when he says, 'The LORD will save us.' ³³Has the god of any nation ever saved its land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they save Samaria from my power? ³⁵Which of all the gods of these lands has saved its land from my power? So how can the LORD save Jerusalem from my power?" ³⁶But the people stayed quiet. They did not answer a word, because Hezekiah had commanded them, "Do not answer him." ³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, went to Hezekiah. Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, who kept the records, went too. Their clothes were torn. They told Hezekiah what the field commander had said.