 1 In the third year of Hoshea son of King Elah of Israel, Hezekiah the son of King Ahaz of Judah began to reign. 2 He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. 3 He did the 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 Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that 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 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 that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him. He was blessed wherever he went. And 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 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, the seventh year of Hoshea son of King Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came against Samaria and besieged it. 10 At the end of three years they took it, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, it was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 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 listen to them, nor do them. 13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 King Hezekiah 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 King Hezekiah of Judah 300 talents of silver, and 30 talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that 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 that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid. And he gave them to the king of Assyria. 17 The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris chief of the eunuchs and Rabshakeh chief of the cupbearers from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem. They came to Jerusalem and stood by the conduit of the upper pool that is in the highway of the fuller's field. 18 They called to the king and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the house and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder went to them. 19 Then Rabshakeh chief of the cupbearers said to them, Speak 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 on the staff of this bruised reed, on 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 Now, please give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver 2,000 horses to you if you are able to set riders on them. 24 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 Rabshakeh chief of the cupbearers, Speak to your servants in the Syrian language Aramaic for we understand it. Do not talk with us in the Jews language in the hearing+ of the people who are on the wall. 27 But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall so that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you? 28 Then Rabshakeh stood and shouted with a loud voice in the Jews language and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: 29 Thus says the king. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. For he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying, The Lord will surely deliver us and this city will not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria. 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make with me a blessing, 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, and 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 from 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 lands have delivered their land 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 saying, Do not answer him. 37 Then 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. They told him the words of Rabshakeh chief of the cupbearers.
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