2 Kings 18

Hezekiah Rules Judah & Assyria Rolls Up

1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah’s rule over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, took over as king.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mama’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just like his daddy David had done.

4 He got rid of the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah pole. He even broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, because up to that time the Israelites were still burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted In the Lord, the God of Israel. There was not anybody like him among all the kings of Judah who came after him, or among those before him.

6 He stuck to the Lord and did not curve from following Him, but kept His commands that the Lord commanded Moses.

7 And the Lord was with him. Wherever he went, he was successful. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and stopped serving him.

8 He hit the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

Assyria Takes Samaria

9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s rule, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah’s rule over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria rolled up against Samaria and laid siege to it.

10 At the end of three years, they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah’s rule, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s rule over Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 The king of Assyria deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, by the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12 Because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God, but curved from His covenant, everything that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and they did not listen or do it.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s rule, Sennacherib king of Assyria rolled up against all the fortified cities of Judah and snatched them.

14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I messed up. Bounce from me, and whatever you put on me, I will pay.” So the king of Assyria made Hezekiah king of Judah pay about eleven tons of silver and about eleven hundred pounds of gold.

15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace.

16 At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Assyria Threatens Jerusalem

17 But the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish with a huge army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. They rolled up and stood by the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, which is on the road to the Washerman’s Field.

18 When they called for the king, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.

19 The Rabshakeh told them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is all this confidence you got?”’”

20 “’You saying, “I got strategy and power for war,” but those are just empty words. Who are you trusting in that you rebelled against me,’”

21 “’Look, you trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will stab anyone who leans on it and pierce his hand. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.’”

22 “’And if you tell me, “We trusting in the Lord our God,” is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, “You only is going to bow down before this altar in Jerusalem”,’”

23 “’So now, make a deal with my boss, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough riders for them.’”

24 “’How you are going to turn back one official of the least of my master’s servants, And you trusting in Egypt for chariots and horsemen,’”

25 “’Did I roll up against this place to destroy it without the Lord, The Lord Himself told me, “Go up against this land and destroy it!”’”

26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah told the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Did my boss send me to speak these words only to your boss and to you, Did he not send me to the dudes sitting on the wall, who is going to have to eat their own poop and drink their own pee with you all?"

28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and yelled out with a loud voice in Judean, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!”

29 “This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah trick you, because he cannot save you from my hand!’”

30 “’And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will for sure save us! This city is not going to be handed over to the king of Assyria!”’”

31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah! Because this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you can eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern?”

32 “’Until I come and take you 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 you can live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah, because he is misleading you, saying, “The Lord will save us.”’”

33 “’Did any of the gods of the nations save their land from the hand of the king of Assyria,’”

34 “’Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad, Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, Did they save Samaria from my hand,’”

35 “’Who among all the gods of these lands has saved their land from my hand, that the Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand,’”

36 But the people kept quiet and did not answer him a word, because the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes ripped, and told him what the Rabshakeh had said.