New Living Translation

New King James Version

Hezekiah Rules in Judah

Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel.

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Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

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He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah,a the daughter of Zechariah.

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He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi[a] the daughter of Zechariah.

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He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

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And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

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He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.b

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He removed the [b]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the [c]wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it [d]Nehushtan.

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Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.

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He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.

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He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.

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For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.

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So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

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The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

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He also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to their largest walled city.

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He [e]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

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During the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked the city of Samaria and began a siege against it.

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

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Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah’s reign and the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Samaria fell.

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

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At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

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Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

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For they refused to listen to the LORD their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant — all the laws that Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded them to obey.

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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 had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

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Assyria Invades Judah

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign,c King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

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

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King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.d

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Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

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To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.

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So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

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Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.

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At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave [f]it to the king of Assyria.

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Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staffe from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.f

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Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord

Then the king of Assyria sent the [g]Tartan, the [h]Rabsaris, and the [i]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.

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They summoned King Hezekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.

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And when they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the [j]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.

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Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

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Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?

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Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?

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You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are [k]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

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On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

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Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, 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 in him.

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“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

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But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose [l]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’

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“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!

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Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses — if you are able on your part to put riders on them!

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With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?

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How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

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What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”

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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.’ ”

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Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,g for the people on the wall will hear.”

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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in [m]Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

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But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

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But the Rabshakeh 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 and drink their own waste with you?”

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Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!

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Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in [n]Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!

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This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power.

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Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand;

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Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’

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nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’

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“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me — open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.

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Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me [o]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

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Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one — a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death!
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’

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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 groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”

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Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?

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Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

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What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?

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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

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What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?”

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Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

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But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

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But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”

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Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.

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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Parallel

New Living Translation

New King James Version

2 Kings 18

2 Kings 18