1In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2He 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.
3He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, just as David his father had done.
4He took away the high places, broke the images, and cut down the groves. He broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had burned incense to it. He called it Nehushtan.
5He trusted in the LORD God of Israel. There was no king like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor any who came before him.
6He held tightly to the LORD, and did not turn away from following him. He kept the commandments that the LORD had given to Moses.
7The LORD was with him, and he did well wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve him.
8He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from the watchtower to the walled city.
9In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and surrounded it.
10At the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah and in Habor by 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. They broke his covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. They would not listen to these commands, and they would not do them.
13In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the walled cities of Judah and took them.
14Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish, and said, "I have done wrong. Go away from me, and whatever you put on me I will carry." The king of Assyria demanded from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's house.
16At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars that he himself, Hezekiah king of Judah, had covered with gold, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.
17The king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army, against Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they stood by the water channel of the upper pool, which is on the road to the fuller's field.
18They called for the king, and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the household, came out to them, with Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence of yours that you trust in?"
20You say you have advice and strength for the war, but these are only empty words. Now who are you trusting in, that you rebel against me?
21Look, you are trusting in Egypt, which is a broken reed for a walking stick. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
22But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God, is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away? Hezekiah has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem.
23So now, make a bargain with my lord the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to find riders to put on them.
24How then can you drive back even one captain among the least of my master's servants? Yet you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.
25"Have I come up against this place to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.'"
26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. Do not talk with us in the Jews' language, where the people on the wall can hear."
27But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"
28Then Rabshakeh stood and shouted with a loud voice in the Jews' language. He said, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria."
29This is what the king says: 'Do not let Hezekiah fool you, for he will not be able to save you out of my hand.
30Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely save us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31Do not listen to Hezekiah.' For this is what the king of Assyria says: 'Make peace with me by giving me a gift, and come out to me. Then every man will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and every man will drink the water of his own well,
32until 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 oil and honey. Then you will live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, The LORD will save us.
33Has any of the gods of the nations ever saved his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah? Did they save Samaria out of my hand?
35"Which of all the gods of these countries has saved his country out of my hand? How then could the LORD save Jerusalem out of my hand?'"
36But the people kept quiet and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, "Do not answer him."