18:1
The Reign of Hizqiyahu and the Siege of Yarushalayim
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yashar'al, that Hizqiyahu the son of Ahaz king of Yahudah began to reign.
Reader Chapter
2 Malakiym 18
2 Malakiym chapter 18 in the Qadmoni reader. Read the full chapter text with direct verse references and continue into the interactive reader.
Browse 2 Malakiym chapter index18:2
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Yarushalayim. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zekaryahu.
18:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, according to all that Dawid his father did.
18:4
The Purge of the Nehushtan
He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves (Asharoth), and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Mushah had made: for unto those days the children of Yashar'al did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
18:5
He trusted in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Alahiym of Yashar'al; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Yahudah, nor any that were before him.
18:6
For he cleaved to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 commanded Mushah.
18:7
The Rebellion Against Assyria
And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
18:8
He smote the Philistines, even unto Azzah, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
18:9
The Judicial Ledger: The Fall of Shomron
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hizqiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yashar'al, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Shomron, and besieged it.
18:10
And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hizqiyahu, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Yashar'al, Shomron was taken.
18:11
And the king of Assyria did carry away Yashar'al unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
18:12
Because they obeyed not the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 their Alahiym, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Mushah the servant of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
18:13
The Invasion of Sancherib
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hizqiyahu did Sancherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Yahudah, and took them.
18:14
The Extortion of the Crown
And Hizqiyahu king of Yahudah 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 Hizqiyahu king of Yahudah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
18:15
And Hizqiyahu gave him all the silver that was found in the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and in the treasures of the king's house.
18:16
At that time did Hizqiyahu cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and from the pillars which Hizqiyahu king of Yahudah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
18:17
The Psychological Siege at the Aqueduct
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hizqiyahu with a great host against Yarushalayim. And they went up and came to Yarushalayim. 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.
18:18
And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Elyaqim the son of Hilqiyahu, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Yoah the son of Asaph the recorder.
18:19
The Blasphemy of the Rabshakeh
And Rabshakeh said unto them, "Speak ye now to Hizqiyahu, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?"
18:20
"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?"
18:21
"Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Mitzrayim, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim unto all that trust on him."
18:22
"But if ye say unto me, We trust in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Alahiym: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hizqiyahu hath taken away, and hath said to Yahudah and Yarushalayim, Ye shall worship before this altar in Yarushalayim?"
18:23
"Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my adun the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them."
18:24
"How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my adun's servants, and put thy trust on Mitzrayim for chariots and for horsemen?"
18:25
The Counterfeit Commission
"Am I now come up without 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 against this place to destroy it? 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it."
18:26
The Terror of the Linguistic Broadcast
Then said Elyaqim the son of Hilqiyahu, and Shebna, and Yoah, unto Rabshakeh, "Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Aramean language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Yahudith language in the ears of the people that are on the wall."
18:27
But Rabshakeh said unto them, "Hath my adun sent me to thy adun, 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?"
18:28
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Yahudith language, and spake, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:"
18:29
"Thus saith the king, Let not Hizqiyahu deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:"
18:30
"Neither let Hizqiyahu make you trust in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, saying, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria."
18:31
The Deceptive Offer of the Matrix
"Hearken not to Hizqiyahu: 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:"
18:32
"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 Hizqiyahu, when he persuadeth you, saying, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will deliver us."
18:33
The Blasphemy Against the True Alahiym
"Hath any of the lo alahiym of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?"
18:34
"Where are the lo alahiym of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the lo alahiym of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Shomron out of mine hand?"
18:35
"Who are they among all the lo alahiym of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 should deliver Yarushalayim out of mine hand?"
18:36
The Discipline of Silence
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, "Answer him not."
18:37
The Rent Garments of the Scribes
Then came Elyaqim the son of Hilqiyahu, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Yoah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hizqiyahu with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.