18:1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah
king of Israel, [that] Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah
began to reign.
18:2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign;
and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
18:3 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that David his father did.
18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut
down the groves, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that
Moses had made: for till those days the children of Israel
burnt incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
18:5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was
none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were
before him.
18:6 For he cleaved to the LORD, [and] departed not from
following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD
commanded Moses.
18:7 And the LORD was with him; [and] he prospered whithersoever
he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and
served him not.
18:8 He smote the Philistines, [even] to Gaza, and its borders,
from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
18:9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah,
which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of
Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against
Samaria, and besieged it.
18:10 And at the end of three years they took it: [even] in the
sixth year of Hezekiah, that [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king
of Israel, Samaria was taken.
18:11 And the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria,
and put them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and
in the cities of the Medes:
18:12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God,
but transgressed his covenant, [and] all that Moses the servant
of the LORD commanded, and would not hear [them], nor do
[them].
18:13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah Sennacherib
king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of
Judah, and took them.
18:14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to
Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which
thou puttest on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria
appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of
silver and thirty talents of gold.
18:15 And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in
the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's
house.
18:16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the
doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which
Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of
Assyria.
18:17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and
Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army
against Jerusalem: and they went up, and came to Jerusalem: and
when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of
the upper pool, which [is] in the highway of the fuller's
field.
18:18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to
them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who [was] over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
18:19 And Rab-shakeh said to them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah,
Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence
[is] this in which thou trustest?
18:20 Thou sayest, but [they are but] vain words, I [have]
counsel and strength for the war. Now in whom dost thou trust,
that thou rebellest against me?
18:21 Now behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised
reed, [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man leaneth, it will go
into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to
all that trust on him.
18:22 But if ye say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: [is]
not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath
taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall
worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
18:23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the
king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses,
if thou shalt be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
18:24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of
the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt
for chariots and for horsemen?
18:25 Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to
destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and
destroy it.
18:26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah,
to Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the
Syrian language; for we understand [it]: and talk not with us
in the Jews language in the ears of the people that [are] on
the wall.
18:27 But Rab-shakeh said to them, Hath my master sent me to thy
master, and to thee, to speak these words? [hath he] not [sent
me] to the men who sit on the wall, that they may feed on their
vilest excretions with you?
18:28 Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great
king, the king of Assyria:
18:29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
18:30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying,
The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
18:31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of
Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me by a present, and come out
to me, and [then] eat ye every man of his own vine, and every
one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his
cistern:
18:32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own
land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a
land of olive-oil and of honey, that ye may live, and not die:
and hearken not to Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying,
The LORD will deliver us.
18:33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
18:34 Where [are] the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where [are]
the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered
Samaria out of my hand?
18:35 Who [are] they among all the gods of the countries, that
have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
18:36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a
word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
18:37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who [was] over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the
recorder, to Hezekiah with [their] clothes rent, and told him
the words of Rab-shakeh.
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