2 Wafalme 18

Hezekiah king of Judah

¹In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.^{a 2}He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. ³He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, in every way as his ancestor David had done. ⁴He removed the high places, broke the standing stones and cut down the Asherah pole. He also smashed to pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. It was called Nehushtan.^{b 5}He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. Among all the kings of Judah there was no one like him, either after him or among those who were before him. ⁶He held fast to the LORD and did not turn away from following him. He kept the commandments the LORD had given to Moses. ⁷The LORD was with him, and he succeeded in everything he set out to do. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ⁸He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

The fall of Samaria

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰At the end of three years they captured it. Samaria was taken in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away into exile to Assyria. He led them away to live in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹²This happened because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but broke his covenant, everything Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. They would neither listen nor do it.

Sennacherib invades Judah

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to Lachish, to the king of Assyria: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will bear whatever you lay on me.” The king of Assyria required Hezekiah king of Judah to pay about 11 tons of silver and about 2,250 pounds of gold. ¹⁵Hezekiah handed over to him all the silver to be found in the LORD’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s palace. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s temple and from the doorposts that he, Hezekiah king of Judah, had covered with it, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

The Assyrian officers at Jerusalem

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent the commander-in-chief, the chief of the court officials and the chief officer from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, with a large army. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they took their stand by the water channel from the Upper Pool, which is on the road to the Fuller’s Field.^{cd 18}They called for the king, and Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, went out to them, together with Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder. ¹⁹Then the chief officer said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What sort of confidence is this that you are trusting in? ²⁰You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but those are nothing but empty words. Who is it you are leaning on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹Now look, you are leaning on Egypt, this cracked reed you use for a staff. Anyone who puts weight on it will have it run into the hand and pierce it. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. ²²Or if you tell me, “Our trust is in the LORD our God,” did Hezekiah not get rid of his high places and his altars? Did he not tell Judah and Jerusalem, “It is before this altar in Jerusalem that you must bow down”? ²³Come, then, place a bet with my master the king of Assyria. I will hand you 2,000 horses, if you can supply men to ride them! ²⁴Then how could you drive off a single governor, one of my master’s lowest officials? Yet you put your trust in Egypt to send chariots and horsemen! ²⁵Now, was it apart from the LORD that I came up against this place to ruin it? It was the LORD who said to me, “Go up against this land and ruin it.”’” ²⁶Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief officer, “We beg you, use Aramaic when you talk with your servants, because we know it. Do not talk with us in the language of Judah while the people on the wall are listening.” ²⁷But the chief officer replied to them, “Did my master send me to speak these words just to you and your master? No, they are for the men who sit on the wall, who are going to eat their own dung and drink their own urine along with you!”^{e 28}Then the chief officer stood and shouted in the language of Judah: “Listen to the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹The king says this: ‘Do not let Hezekiah fool you. He has no power to rescue you from the king’s hand. ³⁰And do not let Hezekiah lead you to rely on the LORD when he tells you, “The LORD is sure to rescue us. The king of Assyria will never be given this city.”’ ³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says this: ‘Come to terms with me and surrender to me. Then everyone may eat from their own vine and their own fig tree and drink water from their own cistern, ³²until I come to move you to a country like your own, a country of grain and fresh wine, of bread and vineyards, of olive oil and honey. Then you will live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is leading you astray when he says, “The LORD will rescue us.” ³³Did any of the gods of the nations ever rescue its own land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my hand? ³⁵Among all the gods of the lands, which ones have rescued their land from my hand, that the LORD should rescue Jerusalem from me?’” ³⁶The people stayed silent and did not say a word in reply, for the king had given an order: “Do not answer him.” ³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief officer had said.