2 Kings 18 NLT ISV Parallel

◄ 2 Kings 18 ►

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1Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel.

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.

2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

2He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Zechariah's daughter Abi.

3He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

3He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done.

4He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.

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.

5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.

5He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah,

6He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.

6because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses.

7So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

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.

8He also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to their largest walled city.

8He attacked the Philistines, invading Gaza and its borders from watchtower to fortified garrison.

9During the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked the city of Samaria and began a siege against it.

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.

10Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah’s reign and the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Samaria fell.

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.

11At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

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,

12For they refused to listen to the LORD their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant—all the laws that Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded them to obey. Assyria Invades Judah

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.

13In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

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.

14King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.

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.

15To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.

15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD's Temple and from the treasuries in the king's palace.

16Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.

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.

17Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.

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.

18They summoned King Hezekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

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.

19Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

19Rab-shakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: '"Why are you so confident?

20Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?

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?

21On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

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!

22“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

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?"'

23“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!

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.

24With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?

24How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

25What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”

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!'"'"

26Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”

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."

27But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

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?"

28Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!

28Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say.

29This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power.

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.

30Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’

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."

31“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.

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

32Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death! “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’

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!"

33Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?

33Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria?

34What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?

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?

35What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?”

35Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control , so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'"

36But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

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."

37Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.

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.

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