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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.² He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.³ And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.⁴ He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.⁵ He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among them] that were before him.⁶ For he cleaved to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.⁷ And Yahweh was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him.⁸ He smote the Philistines to Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified 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.¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.¹¹ And the king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,¹² because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the slave of Yahweh commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.¹³ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.¹⁴ And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to 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 Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house.¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of Yahweh, 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 Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.¹⁹ And Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust?²⁰ You say (but they are but vain words), [There is] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?²¹ Now, look, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt; whereon if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him.²² But if you say to me, We trust in Yahweh our God; isn't that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?²³ Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.²⁴ How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's slaves, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?²⁵ Have I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your slaves in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.²⁷ But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? [has he] not [sent me] to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own feces, and to drink their own urine with you?²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.²⁹ Thus says the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand:³⁰ neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.³¹ Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern;³² Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die: and don't listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, Yahweh will deliver us.³³ Have any of the gods of the nations ever delivered 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, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?³⁵ Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?³⁶ But the people held their peace, and did not answer him a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Don't answer him.³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came, who 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.