King James Version › 2 Kings › 18

2 Kings

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21
• 22
• 23
• 24
• 25

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 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. 3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, ac­cord­ing to all that David his fa­ther did. 4 He re­moved the high places, and brake the im­ages, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen ser­pent that Moses had made: for unto those days the chil­dren of Is­rael did burn in­cense to it: and he called it Ne­hush­tan. 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. 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. 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. 10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezeki­ah, that is 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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: 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.