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Chapter 18 |
| 1 | Now it came to
pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the
son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. |
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2 | Twenty and five years old
was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in
Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
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| 3 | And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to
all that David his father did. |
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4 | He removed the high places, and brake
the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent
that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn
incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. |
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5 | He trusted in the LORD
God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of
Judah, nor any that were before him. |
| 6 | For he clave to the LORD, and
departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD
commanded Moses. |
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7 | And the LORD was with him; and he prospered
whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and
served him not. |
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8 | He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the
borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. |
| 9 |
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh
year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria
came up against Samaria, and besieged it. |
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10 | And at the end of three
years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is in the ninth
year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. |
| 11 | And the king
of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in
Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: |
| 12 |
Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his
covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not
hear them, nor do them. |
| 13 | Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah
did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah,
and took them. |
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14 | And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of
Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou
puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king
of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. |
| 15 |
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD,
and in the treasures of the king's house. |
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16 | At that time did Hezekiah
cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars
which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of
Assyria. |
| 17
| And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem.
And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came
and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the
fuller's field. |
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18 | And when they had called to the king, there came
out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. |
| 19 | And
Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king,
the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? |
| 20 |
Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the
war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? |
| 21 |
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon
Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is
Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. |
| 22 | But if ye
say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places
and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and
Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? |
| 23 | Now
therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will
deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders
upon them. |
| 24
| How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of
the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and
for horsemen? |
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25 | Am 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. |
| 26 |
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah,
unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for
we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the
people that are on the wall. |
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27 | But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my
master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not
sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and
drink their own piss with you? |
| 28 | Then Rabshakeh stood and
cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word
of the great king, the king of Assyria: |
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29 | Thus saith the king, Let
not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his
hand: |
| 30 |
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The
LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand
of the king of Assyria. |
| 31 | Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the
king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me,
and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and
drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: |
| 32 | Until I come
and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land
of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and
not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The
LORD will deliver us. |
| 33 | Hath any of the gods of the nations
delivered at all his land out of the hand of 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 mine hand? |
| 35 | Who
are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country
out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine
hand? |
| 36 |
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word:
for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. |
| 37 | Then came
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes
rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. |
