| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah's son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz' son Hezekiah became king. | 1In the third year of the reign of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz's son Hezekiah became king over Judah. |
| 2He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Zechariah's daughter Abi. | 2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. |
| 3He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done. | 3He did what the LORD approved, just as his ancestor David had done. |
| 4He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass. | 4He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. |
| 5He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah, | 5He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. |
| 6because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses. | 6He was loyal to the LORD and did not abandon him. He obeyed the commandments which the LORD had given to Moses. |
| 7So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah prospered wherever he went, even when he rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to serve him. | 7The LORD was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him. |
| 8He attacked the Philistines, invading Gaza and its borders from watchtower to fortified garrison. | 8He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress. |
| 9In the fourth year of King Hezekiah's reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah's son Hoshea's reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. | 9In the fourth year of King Hezekiah's reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel's King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it. |
| 10Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea's reign as king of Israel. | 10After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel Samaria was captured. |
| 11After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, | 11The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. |
| 12because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice. | 12This happened because they did not obey the LORD their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the LORD's servant, had commanded. |
| 13During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. | 13In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. |
| 14So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I'll accept whatever tribute you impose." So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. | 14King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, "I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand." So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. |
| 15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD's Temple and from the treasuries in the king's palace. | 15Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the LORD's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. |
| 16At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD's Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria. | 16At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the LORD's temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria. |
| 17Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. | 17The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. |
| 18When they called for the king, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them. | 18They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them. |
| 19Rab-shakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: '"Why are you so confident? | 19The chief adviser said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: "What is your source of confidence? |
| 20You're saying—but they're only empty words—'I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!' '"Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? | 20Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me? |
| 21Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! | 21Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. |
| 22"Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"' | 22Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the LORD our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.' |
| 23"Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. | 23Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. |
| 24How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? | 24Certainly you will not refuse one of my master's minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. |
| 25"Now then, haven't I come up—apart from the LORD—to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" | 25Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The LORD told me, 'March up against this land and destroy it.'"'" |
| 26At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." | 26Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." |
| 27But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine —along with you?" | 27But the chief adviser said to them, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you." |
| 28Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. | 28The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, "Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. |
| 29This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. | 29This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand! |
| 30And don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, "The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." | 30Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD when he says, "The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." |
| 31Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern | 31Don't listen to Hezekiah!' For this is what the king of Assyria says, 'Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, |
| 32until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die." 'But don't listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us!" | 32until I come and take you to a land just like your own--a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don't listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, "The LORD will rescue us." |
| 33Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? | 33Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? |
| 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? | 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? |
| 35Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control , so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'" | 35Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?'" |
| 36But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king's order was, "Don't answer him." | 36The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, "Don't respond to him." |
| 37But Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said. | 37Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said. |
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