| Holy Bible, The New Living Translation | |
| Book of 2 Kings |
Chapter 18 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio 
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- 18:1 - [In Context]
- Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel.
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- 18:2 - [In Context]
- He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, F54 the daughter of Zechariah.
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- 18:3 - [In Context]
- He did what was pleasing in the LORD's sight, just as his ancestor David had done.
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- 18:4 - [In Context]
- He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and knocked down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had begun to worship it by burning incense to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan. F55
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- 18:5 - [In Context]
- Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was never another king like him in the land of Judah, either before or after his time.
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- 18:6 - [In Context]
- He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.
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- 18:7 - [In Context]
- So 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.
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- 18:8 - [In Context]
- He also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to their largest walled city.
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- 18:9 - [In Context]
- During the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked Israel and began a siege on the city of Samaria.
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- 18:10 - [In Context]
- Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel, Samaria fell.
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- 18:11 - [In Context]
- At that time the king of Assyria deported the Israelites to Assyria and put them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and among the cities of the Medes.
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- 18:12 - [In Context]
- For they had refused to listen to the LORD their God. Instead, they had violated his covenant – all the laws the LORD had given through his servant Moses.
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- 18:13 - [In Context]
- In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.
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- 18:14 - [In Context]
- King 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 go away." The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and about one ton of gold. F56
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- 18:15 - [In Context]
- To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.
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- 18:16 - [In Context]
- Hezekiah 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.
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- 18:17 - [In Context]
- Nevertheless the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his personal representative from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians stopped beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is bleached.
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- 18:18 - [In Context]
- They 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.
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- 18:19 - [In Context]
- Then the Assyrian king's personal representative sent this message to King Hezekiah: "This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
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- 18:20 - [In Context]
- Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Which of your allies will give you any military backing against Assyria?
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- 18:21 - [In Context]
- Will Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, you will find it to be a stick that breaks beneath your weight and pierces your hand. The pharaoh of Egypt is completely unreliable!
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- 18:22 - [In Context]
- "But perhaps you will say, 'We are trusting in the LORD our God!' But isn't he the one who was insulted by King Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
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- 18:23 - [In Context]
- "I'll tell you what! My master, the king of Assyria, will strike a bargain with you. If you can find two thousand horsemen in your entire army, he will give you two thousand horses for them to ride on!
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- 18:24 - [In Context]
- With 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 horsemen F57 ?
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- 18:25 - [In Context]
- What's more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD's direction? The LORD himself told us, 'Go and destroy it!'"
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- 18:26 - [In Context]
- Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the king's representative, "Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don't speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear."
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- 18:27 - [In Context]
- But Sennacherib's representative replied, "My master wants everyone in Jerusalem to hear this, not just you. He wants them to know that if you do not surrender, this city will be put under siege. The people will become so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine."
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- 18:28 - [In Context]
- Then he stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, "Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!
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- 18:29 - [In Context]
- This is what the king says: Don't let King Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power.
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- 18:30 - [In Context]
- Don't let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, 'The LORD will rescue us! This city will never be handed over to the Assyrian king.'
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- 18:31 - [In Context]
- "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 I will allow each of you to continue eating from your own garden and drinking from your own well.
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- 18:32 - [In Context]
- Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one – a country with bountiful harvests of grain and wine, bread and vineyards, olive trees and honey – a land of plenty. Choose life instead of death!"Don't listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, 'The LORD will rescue us!'
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- 18:33 - [In Context]
- Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
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- 18:34 - [In Context]
- What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my power?
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- 18:35 - [In Context]
- What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?"
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- 18:36 - [In Context]
- But the people were silent and did not answer because Hezekiah had told them not to speak.
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- 18:37 - [In Context]
- Then 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 representative had said.
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| Chapter 19 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 19:1 - [In Context]
- When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the Temple of the LORD to pray.
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- 19:2 - [In Context]
- And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
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- 19:3 - [In Context]
- They told him, "This is what King Hezekiah says: This is a day of trouble, insult, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver it.
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- 19:4 - [In Context]
- But perhaps the LORD your God has heard the Assyrian representative defying the living God and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!"
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- 19:5 - [In Context]
- After King Hezekiah's officials delivered the king's message to Isaiah,
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- 19:6 - [In Context]
- the prophet replied, "Say to your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king's messengers.
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- 19:7 - [In Context]
- Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a report from Assyria telling him that he is needed at home. Then I will make him want to return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.'"
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- 19:8 - [In Context]
- Meanwhile, the Assyrian representative left Jerusalem and went to consult his king, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
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- 19:9 - [In Context]
- Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia F58 was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent this message back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem:
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- 19:10 - [In Context]
- "This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don't let this God you trust deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.
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- 19:11 - [In Context]
- You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have crushed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
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- 19:12 - [In Context]
- Have the gods of other nations rescued them – such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? The former kings of Assyria destroyed them all!
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- 19:13 - [In Context]
- What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"
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- 19:14 - [In Context]
- After Hezekiah received the letter and read it, he went up to the LORD's Temple and spread it out before the LORD.
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- 19:15 - [In Context]
- And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.
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- 19:16 - [In Context]
- Listen to me, O LORD, and hear! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God.
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- 19:17 - [In Context]
- "It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations, just as the message says.
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- 19:18 - [In Context]
- And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all – only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
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- 19:19 - [In Context]
- Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O LORD, are God."
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- 19:20 - [In Context]
- Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.
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- 19:21 - [In Context]
- This is the message that the LORD has spoken against him: 'The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem scoffs and shakes her head as you flee.
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- 19:22 - [In Context]
- 'Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look in such proud condescension? It was the Holy One of Israel!
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- 19:23 - [In Context]
- By your messengers you have mocked the Lord. You have said, "With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains – yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests.
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- 19:24 - [In Context]
- I have dug wells in many a foreign land and refreshed myself with their water. I even stopped up the rivers of Egypt so that my armies could go across!"
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- 19:25 - [In Context]
- 'But have you not heard? It was I, the LORD, who decided this long ago. Long ago I planned what I am now causing to happen, that you should crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
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- 19:26 - [In Context]
- That is why their people have so little power and are such easy prey for you. They are as helpless as the grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, easily scorched by the sun.
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- 19:27 - [In Context]
- 'But I know you well – your comings and goings and all you do. I know the way you have raged against me.
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- 19:28 - [In Context]
- And because of your arrogance against me, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. I will make you return by the road on which you came.'"
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- 19:29 - [In Context]
- Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Here is the proof that the LORD will protect this city from Assyria's king. This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
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- 19:30 - [In Context]
- And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will take root again in your own soil, and you will flourish and multiply.
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- 19:31 - [In Context]
- For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount Zion. The passion of the LORD Almighty will make this happen!
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- 19:32 - [In Context]
- "And this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: His armies will not enter Jerusalem to shoot their arrows. They will not march outside its gates with their shields and build banks of earth against its walls.
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- 19:33 - [In Context]
- The king will return to his own country by the road on which he came. He will not enter this city, says the LORD.
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- 19:34 - [In Context]
- For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend it."
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- 19:35 - [In Context]
- That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops. When the surviving Assyrians F59 woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
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- 19:36 - [In Context]
- Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
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- 19:37 - [In Context]
- One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
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FOOTNOTES:
F54: As in parallel text at 2 Chr 29:1; Hebrew reads Abi, a variant name for Abijah.
F55: Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew terms that mean "snake," "bronze," and "unclean thing."
F56: Hebrew 300 talents [10 metric tons] of silver and 30 talents [1 metric ton] of gold.
F57: Or and charioteers.
F58: Hebrew of Cush.
F59: Hebrew When they.
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