2 Kings 18

1 And in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abu, daughter of Zechariah. [a] 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to everything that David his father had done. 4 He took away the high places, and broke in pieces all the pillars, and destroyed the sacred groves, and the bronze serpent that Moses had made — because until those days the children of Israel had been burning incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. [b]

5 He set his hope on the Lord, the God of Israel; and after him there was no one like him among the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. 6 And he held fast to the Lord. He did not turn away from following him, and he kept his commands, all that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; in everything he did he acted wisely. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians and did not serve him. 8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its border, from the watchtower to the fortified city.

9 And in the fourth year of king Hezekiah — that is the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel — Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians came up against Samaria and laid siege to it. [d] 10 And he took it at the end of three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah — that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel — and Samaria was captured. 11 And the king of the Assyrians carried Samaria away to the Assyrians, and settled them in Halah and in Habor, the river of Gozan, and the mountains of the Medes, [e] 12 because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and went against his covenant — everything that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded — and they did not listen and did not do it.

13 And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fortified cities of Judah and took them. [f] 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians at Lachish, saying, “I have sinned. Turn back from me. Whatever you lay on me, I will bear.” And the king of the Assyrians laid on Hezekiah king of Judah about eleven tons of silver and just over a ton of gold. [g]

15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah cut up the doors of the temple of the Lord and the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid with gold, and he gave them to the king of the Assyrians. [i]

17 And the king of the Assyrians sent Tartan and Raphis and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a heavy force against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem and took their stand at the channel of the upper pool, which is on the road to the washerman’s field. [j] 18 And they called for Hezekiah; and there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and Joash son of Asaph the recorder. [k]

19 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah: This is what the king says, the great king, the king of the Assyrians — What is this confidence you are trusting in? 20 You said, ‘I have counsel and strength for war’ — but that is only words on the lips. Now then, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Look now, you are trusting for yourself in this broken staff of reed, in Egypt. A man leans on it, and it goes into his hand and pierces it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

22 And because you have said to me, ‘We trust in the Lord God’ — is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah took away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23 And now, come to terms with my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your side to put riders on them. 24 How then will you turn back the face of one district governor, one of the least of my lord’s servants? And you have set your hope on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 25 And now, is it without the Lord that we have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

26 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joash said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in the language of Judah. Why do you speak in the hearing of the people who are on the wall?” [l] 27 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Was it to your master and to you that my master sent me to speak these words? Was it not to the men sitting on the wall, who will be eating their own dung and drinking their own urine along with you?”

28 And Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, and he spoke and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah lift you up with words, for he will not be able to rescue you out of my hand. 30 And do not let Hezekiah make you set your hope on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.’

31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of the Assyrians says: Come to terms with me and come out to me, and every man will drink from his own vine, and every man will eat from his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, [m] 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine and bread and vineyards, a land of the olive, of oil, and of honey; and you will live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is deceiving you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’

33 Have the gods of the nations ever delivered, each of them, his own land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians? 34 Where is the god of Hamath and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? And did they rescue Samaria out of my hand? [n] 35 Who is there among all the gods of the lands who rescued their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should rescue Jerusalem out of my hand?”

36 But they kept silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “You shall not answer him.” 37 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and Joash son of Asaph the recorder came in to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.