CHAPTER 18
In the third
year
of the reign
of Hoshea
son
of Elah
over Israel,
Hezekiah
son
of Ahaz
became king
of Judah.
He was
twenty-five
years old
when he became king,
and he reigned
in Jerusalem
twenty-nine
years.
His mother’s
name
was Abi,
the daughter
of Zechariah.
He removed
the high places,
shattered
the sacred pillars,
and cut down
the Asherah poles.
He also demolished
the bronze
serpent
called
Nehushtan
that
Moses
had made,
for
up to
that
time
the Israelites
had burned incense
to it.
Hezekiah trusted
in the LORD,
the God
of Israel.
No
king
of Judah
was
like him,
either before him
or after him.
He remained faithful
to the LORD
and did not
turn
from following Him;
he kept
the commandments
that
the LORD
had given
Moses.
And the LORD
was
with Hezekiah,
and he prospered
wherever
he went.
He rebelled
against the king
of Assyria
and refused
to serve him.
In the fourth
year
of Hezekiah's
reign,
which
was the seventh
year
of the reign
of Hoshea
son
of Elah
over Israel,
Shalmaneser
king
of Assyria
marched
against
Samaria
and besieged
it.
And at the end
of three
years,
the Assyrians captured it.
So Samaria
was captured
in the sixth
year
of Hezekiah,
which
was the ninth
year
of Hoshea
king
of Israel.
The king
of Assyria
exiled
the Israelites
to Assyria
and settled them
in Halah,
in Gozan
by the Habor
River,
and in the cities
of the Medes.
This happened because
they did not
listen
to the voice
of the LORD
their God,
but violated
His covenant—
all
that
Moses
the servant
of the LORD
had commanded—
and would neither
listen
nor
obey.
In the fourteenth
year
of the reign
of Hezekiah,
Sennacherib
king
of Assyria
attacked
and captured
all
the fortified
cities
of Judah.
So Hezekiah
king
of Judah
sent
word to
the king
of Assyria
at Lachish,
saying,
“I have done wrong;
withdraw
from me,
and I will pay
whatever
you demand
from me.”
And the king
of Assyria
exacted
from
Hezekiah
king
of Judah
three
hundred
talents
of silver
and thirty
talents
of gold.
Hezekiah
gave
him all
the silver
that was found
in the house
of the LORD
and in the treasuries
of the royal
palace.
At that
time
Hezekiah
stripped the gold
with which
he had plated
the doors
and
doorposts
of the temple
of the LORD,
and he gave
it to the king
of Assyria.
Nevertheless, the king
of Assyria
sent
the Tartan,
the Rab-saris,
and the Rab-shakeh,
along with a great army,
from
Lachish
to
King
Hezekiah
at Jerusalem.
They advanced up
to Jerusalem
and stationed themselves
by the aqueduct
of the upper
pool,
on the road
to the Launderer's
Field.
Then they called
for
the king;
and Eliakim
son
of Hilkiah
the palace
administrator,
Shebnah
the scribe,
and Joah
son
of Asaph
the recorder,
went out
to them.
The Rab-shakeh
said
to them,
“Tell
Hezekiah
that this is what
the great
king,
the king
of Assyria,
says:
What
is the basis
of this
confidence
of yours?
You claim
to have a strategy
and strength
for war,
but
these are empty
words.
On
whom
are you now
relying,
that
you have rebelled
against me?
Look
now,
you are trusting
in
Egypt,
that splintered
reed
of a staff
that will pierce
the hand
of anyone
who
leans
on it.
Such is
Pharaoh
king
of Egypt
to all
who trust
in him.
But if
you say
to me:
‘We trust
in
the LORD
our God,’
is He
not
the One
whose high places
and altars
Hezekiah
has removed,
saying
to Judah
and Jerusalem:
‘You must worship
before
this
altar
in Jerusalem’?
Now, therefore,
make a bargain
with
my master,
the king
of Assyria.
I will give
you
two thousand
horses—
if
you can
put
riders
on them!
For how
can you repel
a single
officer
among the least
of my master’s
servants
when you depend
on
Egypt
for chariots
and horsemen?
So now,
was it apart from
the LORD
that I have come up
against
this
place
to destroy it?
The LORD Himself
said
to me,
‘Go up
against
this
land
and destroy it!’”
Then Eliakim
son
of Hilkiah,
along with Shebnah
and Joah,
said
to
the Rab-shakeh,
“Please
speak
to
your servants
in Aramaic,
since
we
understand it.
Do not
speak
to us
in Hebrew
in the hearing
of the people
on
the wall."
But the Rab-shakeh
replied,
“Has my master
sent me
to speak
these
words
only to
you and
your master,
and not
to
the men
sitting
on
the wall,
who are destined with you
to eat
their own dung
and drink
their own urine?"
Then the Rab-shakeh
stood
and called out
loudly
in Hebrew:
“Hear
the word
of the great
king,
the king
of Assyria!
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.’
Do not
listen
to
Hezekiah,
for
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
his own fig tree,
and
drink
water
from his own cistern,
until
I come
and take you away
to
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—
so that you may live
and not
die.
But do not
listen
to
Hezekiah,
for
he misleads you
when he says,
'The LORD
will deliver us.'
Where
are the gods
of Hamath
and Arpad?
Where
are the gods
of Sepharvaim,
Hena,
and Ivvah?
Have they delivered
Samaria
from my hand?
Who
among all
the gods
of these lands
has delivered
his land
from my hand?
How then can the LORD
deliver
Jerusalem
from my hand?’”
But the people
remained silent
and did not
answer
a word,
for
Hezekiah
had commanded,
“Do not
answer him.”
Then Hilkiah's
son
Eliakim
the palace
administrator,
Shebna
the scribe,
and Asaph's
son
Joah
the recorder,
came
to
Hezekiah
with their clothes
torn,
and they relayed
to him
the words
of
the Rab-shakeh.