2 Kings 18:1-20
Hezekiah Reigns in Judah
1 aIn the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, bHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2He was ctwenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was dAbi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 eAnd he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 4 fHe removed the high places and broke the gpillars and cut down hthe Asherah. And he broke in pieces ithe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). ▼ 5 kHe trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, lso that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 mFor he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 nAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ohe prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 pHe struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, qfrom watchtower to fortified city.9In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, rShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, 10and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in sHalah, and on the tHabor, uthe river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
Sennacherib Attacks Judah
13 vIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” wAnd the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents ▼▼A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15And Hezekiah ygave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17And the king of Assyria sent the zTartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by aathe conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 18And when they called for the king, there came out to them abEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and acShebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 19And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
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