II Kings 18

1. Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the 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 Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

4. He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the groves. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it. And he called it Nehushtan.

5. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him,

6. For he clung to the LORD. He did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.

7. And the LORD was with him. He was blessed wherever he went. But he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

8. He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders from the Watch Tower to the fortified city.

9. So it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.

10. And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, it was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

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

12. Because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hearken to them, nor do them.

13. And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

14. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, “I have offended; turn back from me. Whatever you put 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.

15. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king’s house.

16. At that time 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 he gave them to the king of Assyria.

17. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and the chief officer, and the chief field commander 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. And they called to the king. And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.

19. And the chief field commander said to them, “Speak now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?

20. Do you say that a mere word of the lips is wisdom and strength for the war? Now on whom do you trust that you rebel against me?

21. Now, behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.

22. But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the one Whose high places and Whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ‘

23. And now, please give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver two thousand horses to you if you are able to set riders upon them.

24. And how will you turn away the face of one commander of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25. Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’ ”

26. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the chief field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for it we understand. And do not talk with us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

27. And the chief field commander said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

28 And the chief field commander 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:

29. Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand.

30. And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria.” ‘

31. Do not hearken to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me by a present, and come out to me, and you each shall eat of his vine, and each of his fig tree, and you each shall drink of the waters of his own cistern

32. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and of honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he deceives you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.”

33. Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

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?

35. Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”

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

37. And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. And they told him the words of the chief field commander.