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¹ And it happened in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah the king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz the king of Judah began to reign.² He was a son of twenty five years when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty nine years; and the name of his mother was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.³ And he did the right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father David did;⁴ he took away the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and beat to bits the bronze serpent that Moses made (for in those days it was that the sons of Israel burned sacrifices to it) and called it Nehushtan.⁵ He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him;⁶ and he clung to Jehovah; he did not turn aside from following Him, and kept His commands that Jehovah commanded Moses.⁷ And Jehovah was with him. He acted prudently every place he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.⁸ He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the Watch Tower to the fortified city.

⁹ And it happened, in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (it was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah the king of Israel) Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.¹⁰ And they captured it at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hezekiah (it was the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Israel) Samaria was conquered;¹¹ and the king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,¹² because they did not listen to the voice of Jehovah their God, and transgressed His covenant, all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded; yea, they did not listen nor do them .¹³ And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.¹⁴ And Hezekiah the king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, I have offended, turn back from me; that which you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria laid on Hezekiah theking of Judah three hundred talents of silverand thirty talents of gold.¹⁵ And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the house of the king.¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and the pillars that Hezekiah the king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the cupbearers from Lachish, to King Hezekiah with a heavy force, to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they went up and came in and stoodby the conduit of the upper pool that was in the highway of the Fuller's Field.¹⁸ And 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 out to them.¹⁹ And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Now say to Hezekiah, So says the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this hope in which you have trusted?²⁰ Do you say that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for battle; now, on whom have you trusted that you have rebelled against me?²¹ Now, behold, you have trusted for yourself on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt to all those who trust in him.²² And when you say to me, We have trusted to Jehovah our God, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar you shall bow yourselves in Jerusalem?²³ And, now, I ask you, exchange pledges for yourself to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will give to you two thousand horses if you are able to give for yourself riders on them.²⁴ And how will you turn back the face of one prefect of the least of the servants of my lord, that you trust for yourself upon Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?²⁵ Now, have I come up against this place to destroy it without Jehovah? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land, and you shall destroy it.²⁶ And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the chief of the cupbearers, Please speak Aramaic to your servants, for we understand; and do not speak with us in Jewish, in the ears of the people on the wall.²⁷ And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master, and to you, and not to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink the water of their feet with you?²⁸ And the chief of the cupbearers stood and called with a great voice in Jewish, and spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria;²⁹ So says the king, Do not let Hezekiah delude you, for he is not able to deliver you out of his hand;³⁰ and do not let Hezekiah make you trust to Jehovah, saying, Jehovah delivering shall deliver us; and, This city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for so says the king of Assyria, Make with me a peace treaty 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 well,³² until I come; and I will take you 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 honey; and live, and do not die; and do not listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying,Jehovah shall deliver us.³³ Have the gods of the nations at all delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?³⁶ But the people kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, saying, Do not answer him.³⁷ And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came in to Hezekiah, having torn their garments; and they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.