2 Kings 18

And it happened in the year of three to Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, the king of Judah, reigned.

He was a son of 25 years when he reigned, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother {was} Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

And he did right in the eyes of God, like all that David his father had done. \*

He, he removed the high places, and he shattered the pillars, and he cut down the Asherah. And he broke up the serpent of bronze that Moses had made, because until those days the sons of Israel were offering incense to it (and one called it Nehushtan).

He trusted in God the God of Israel, and after him none was like him among all of the kings of Judah or those who were to his face. \*

And he clung to God, he did not turn away from after him, and he kept his commandments, which God had commanded Moses.

And God was with him. In every {place} where he went out, he succeeded. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and he did not serve him.

He, he struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from a tower of watchmen to a fortified city. \*

And it happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (it {was} the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel), Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and he besieged against it.

And they captured it at the end of three years. In the year of six to Hezekiah, it {was} the year of nine to Hoshea, the king of Israel, Samaria was captured. \*

And the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria. And he led them into Halah and into the Habor, the river of Gozan, and {into} the cities of Media,

because they did not listen to the voice of God their God, but they transgressed his covenant, all that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded, and they did not listen, and they did not do. \*

And in 14, the year to King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them.

And Hezekiah, the king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, “I have sinned. Turn back from against me. Whatever you put on me, I will bear.” And the king of Assyria set for Hezekiah, the king of Judah, 300 kikkars of silver and 30 kikkars of gold.

And Hezekiah gave all of the silver found {in} the house of God and in the storerooms of the house of the king. \*

At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of God and the doorposts that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a heavy army {to} Jerusalem. And they went up, and they came {to} Jerusalem. And they went up, and they came, and they stopped by the conduit of the Upper Pool that {was} on the highway of the Field of the Fuller.

And they called to the king, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who {was} over the house, and Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to them. \*

And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Now say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What {is} this trust that you trust?

You speak only a word of lips, ‘Counsel and might for war.’ Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

Now behold, you trust for yourself in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, on which a man supports himself and it goes into his palm and pierces it. Thus {is} Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all of the ones trusting in him.”’ \*

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in God our God,’ {is it} not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘To the face of this altar in Jerusalem you shall prostrate yourselves’?

‘And now, wager, please, with my master, with the king of Assyria. And I will give to you 2,000 horses if you are able to put riders on them for yourself. \*

But how would you turn back the face of a captain of one of the least servants of my master? So you trust for yourself in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen.’

‘“Now have I come up against this place to destroy it without God? God said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’” \*

And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding. But do not speak with us in Judean in the ears of the people who {are} on the wall.”

But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Did my master send me to speak these words to your master and to you? {Was it} not to the men sitting on the wall, who will eat their dung and drink their urine with you?” \*

And the Rabshakeh stood, and he called out in a great voice in Judean. And he spoke and said, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he is not able to deliver you from his hand.

And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in God, saying, “Delivering, God will deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’ \*

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and eat, a man of his vine and a man of his fig tree, and drink, a man {from} the waters of his well,

until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive of oil and honey. So live, and do not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “God will deliver us.” \*

Delivering, did the gods of the nations deliver, a man his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where {were} the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where {were} the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did they deliver Samaria from my hand?

Who {are they} among all of the gods of the lands that have delivered their land from my hand, that God should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’” \*

But the people were silent and did not answer him a word, for it {was} a commandment of the king, saying, “You shall not answer him.”

Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who {was} over the house, with Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah, torn of clothes. And they declared to him the words of the Rabshakeh. \*