[1] In the third year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezeki'ah 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 Zechari'ah. [3] And he did what
was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father
had done. [4] He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut
down the Ashe'rah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had
made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it;
it was called Nehush'tan. [5] He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel; so
that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor
among those who were before him. [6] For he held fast to the LORD; he did
not depart from following him, but kept the commandments which the LORD
commanded Moses. [7] And the LORD was with him; wherever he went forth, he
prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve
him. [8] He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from
watchtower to fortified city. [9] In the fourth year of King Hezeki'ah,
which was the seventh year of Hoshe'a son of Elah, king of Israel,
Shalmane'ser king of Assyria came up against Sama'ria and besieged it [10]
and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezeki'ah,
which was the ninth year of Hoshe'a king of Israel, Sama'ria was taken.
[11] The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and put
them in Halah, and on the Habor, 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, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD
commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed. [13] In the fourteenth year of
King Hezeki'ah Sennach'erib king of Assyria came up against all the
fortified cities of Judah and took them. [14] And Hezeki'ah king of Judah
sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong;
withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of
Assyria required of Hezeki'ah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver
and thirty talents of gold. [15] And Hezeki'ah gave him 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 Hezeki'ah stripped the gold from the doors of the
temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts which Hezeki'ah king of Judah
had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. [17] And the king of
Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab'saris, and the Rab'shakeh with a great
army from Lachish to King Hezeki'ah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came
to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the
upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field. [18] And when
they called for the king, there came out to them Eli'akim the son of
Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Jo'ah
the son of Asaph, the recorder. [19] And the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Say
to Hezeki'ah, `Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do
you rest this confidence of yours? [20] Do you think that mere words are
strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled
against me? [21] Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of
a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is
Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. [22] But if you say to me,
"We rely on the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars
Hezeki'ah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship
before this altar in Jerusalem"? [23] Come now, make a wager with my master
the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able
on your part to set riders upon them. [24] How then can you repulse a
single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on
Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? [25] Moreover, is it without the LORD
that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me,
Go up against this land, and destroy it.'" [26] Then Eli'akim the son of
Hilki'ah, and Shebnah, and Jo'ah, said to the Rab'shakeh, "Pray, speak to
your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak
to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on
the wall." [27] But the Rab'shakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to
speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on
the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their
own urine?" [28] Then the Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice
in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of
Assyria! [29] Thus says the king: `Do not let Hezeki'ah deceive you, for he
will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. [30] Do not let Hezeki'ah
make you to rely on the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us,
and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' [31]
Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: `Make your
peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own
vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink
the water of his own cistern; [32] until I come and take you away to a land
like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and
vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die.
And do not listen to Hezeki'ah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD
will deliver us. [33] Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? [34] Where are the gods of
Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva'im, Hena, and Ivvah? Have
they delivered Sama'ria 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 were silent
and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer
him." [37] Then Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household,
and Shebna the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to
Hezeki'ah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the
Rab'shakeh.

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