Study Desk

Now it came about ^(a)in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that ^(b)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

He was ^(c)twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

^(d)He did right in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his father David had done.

^(e)He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the ^[a]Asherah. He also broke in pieces ^(f)the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called ^[b]Nehushtan.

^(g)He trusted in the Lord , the God of Israel; ^(h)so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

For he ⁽ⁱ⁾clung to the Lord ; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.

^(j)And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And ^(k)he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

^(l)He ^[c]defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from ^(m)watchtower to fortified city.

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

At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ^(o)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured.

Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in ^(p)Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

because they ^(q)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 would neither listen nor do it.

^(r)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "^(s)I have done wrong. ^[d]Withdraw from me; whatever you ^[e]impose on me I will bear." So the king of Assyria ^[f]required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

^(t)Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord , and in the treasuries of the king's house.

At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord , and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Then the king of Assyria sent ^(u)Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^(v)conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the ^[g]fuller's field.

When they called to the king, ^(w)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(x)Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

Then Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "^(y)What is this confidence that you ^[h]have?

You say (but they are ^[i]only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.' Now on whom do you rely, ^(z)that you have rebelled against me?