2 Kings 18

1 After King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost three years, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to rule Judah.

And it came to pass in the third year of Osee son of Ela king of Israel [that] Ezekias son of Achaz king of Juda began to reign.

2 He was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah] and he ruled from Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of [a man whose name was] Zechariah.

Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Abu, daughter of Zacharias.

3 Hezekiah did things that Yahweh considered to be right, like his ancestor King David had done.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David did.

4 He destroyed the places where people worshiped Yahweh on the tops of hills, and he broke into pieces the stone pillars [for worshiping the goddess Asherah]. He also broke into pieces the bronze [replica/statue of a] snake that Moses had made. He did that because the people had named it Nehushtan, and they were burning incense in front of it to honor it.

He removed the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves, and the brazen serpent which Moses made: because until those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called it Neesthan.

5 Hezekiah trusted in Yahweh, the God whom the Israelis [worshiped.] There was no king who ruled Judah before him or after him who was as [devoted to Yahweh as] he was.

He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; and after him there was not any like him among the kings of Juda, nor among those that were before him.

6 He remained loyal to Yahweh and never disobeyed him. He carefully obeyed all the commandments that Yahweh had given to Moses.

And he clave to the Lord, he departed not from following him; and he kept his commandments, as many as he commanded Moses.

7 Yahweh always (helped/was with) him. He was successful in everything that he did. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to (pay taxes to him/do what the king of Assyria wanted him to do).

And the Lord was with him; and he was wise in all that he undertook: and he revolted from the king of the Assyrians, and served him not.

8 His army defeated [the soldiers of] Philistia as far [south] as Gaza [city] and the nearby villages. They conquered the entire area, from the smallest watchtower to the largest cities surrounded by walls.

He struck the Philistines [even] to Gaza, and to the border of it, from the tower of the watchmen even to the strong city.

9 After King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost four years, and when King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost seven years, [the army of] King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and surrounded Samaria [city].

And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Ezekias (this is the seventh year of Osee son of Ela king of Israel, ) [that] Salamanassar king of the Assyrians came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 In the third year they captured the city. That was when Hezekiah has been ruling Judah for almost six years, and when Hoshea had been ruling Israel for almost nine years.

And he took it at the end of three years, in the sixth year of Ezekias, (this [is] the ninth year of Osee king of Israel, when Samaria was taken.)

11 The king of Assyria commanded that the people of Israel be taken to Assyria. Some of them were taken to Halah [town], some were taken to a place near the Habor [River] in [the] Gozan [region], and some were taken to cities where the Mede people-group live.

And the king of the Assyrians carried away the Samaritans to Assyria, and put them in Alae and in Abor, [by] the river Gozan, and [in] the mountains of the Medes;

12 That happened because the Israelis did not obey Yahweh their God. They disobeyed the agreement that Yahweh had made with their ancestors, and all the laws that Moses, the man who served Yahweh [very well], had told them to obey. They would not obey those laws; they would not even listen to them.

because they listened not to the voice of the Lord their God, and transgressed his covenant, [even] in all things that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and listened not [to them], nor did [them].

13 After King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost 14 years, [the army of] King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the cities in Judah that had walls around them. They [did not capture Jerusalem, but they] captured all the other cities.

And in the fourteenth year of king Ezekias came up Sennacherim king of the Assyrians against the strong cities of Juda, and took them.

14 King Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, while Sennacherib was in Lachish, saying “What I have done was wrong. Please [tell your soldiers to] stop attacking us. If you do that, I will pay you whatever you tell me to.” So the king of Assyria said that Hezekiah must pay to him (ten tons/9,000 kg.) of silver and (one ton/900 kg.) of gold.

And Ezekias king of Juda sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians to Lachis, saying, I have offended; depart from me: whatever you shall lay upon me, I will bear. And the king of Assyria laid upon Ezekias king of Juda [a tribute of] three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.

15 So Hezekiah gave to him all the silver that was in the temple and that was stored in the king’s palace.

And Ezekias gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house.

16 Hezekiah’s men also stripped the gold from the doors of the temple and the gold that he himself had put on the doorposts, and he sent all that gold to the king of Assyria.

At that time Ezekias cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple, and [from] the pillars which Ezekias king of Juda [had] overlaid with gold, and gave it to the king of the Assyrians.

17 But the king of Assyria sent a large army with some of his important officials from Lachish [city] to [persuade] King Hezekiah [to surrender]. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stood alongside the aqueduct/channel in which water flows from the upper pool into Jerusalem, near the road to the field where the women wash clothes.

And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Raphis and Rapsakes from Lachis to king Ezekias with a strong force against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is by the way of the fuller's field.

18 They sent a message requesting King Hezekiah to come to them, but the king sent three of his officials [to talk to them]. He sent Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who supervised the palace; Shebna, the official secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, who communicated the king’s messages to the people.

And they cried to Ezekias: and there came to him Heliakim the son of Chelcias the steward, and Somnas the scribe, and Joas the son of Saphat the recorder.

19 One of Sennacherib’s important officials told them to take this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the king of Assyria, the great king, says: ‘What are you trusting in [to rescue you] [RHQ]?

And Rapsakes said to them, Say now to Ezekias, Thus says the king, the great king of the Assyrians, What [is] this confidence wherein you trust?

20 You say that you have weapons to fight us, and some country promises [to help you], [and that will enable you to defeat us, ] but that is only talk [RHQ]. Who do you think will help you to rebel against my [soldiers from Assyria]?

You have said, (but [they are] mere words, ) [I have] counsel and strength for war. Now then in whom do you trust, that you have revolted from me?

21 Listen to me! You are relying on [the army of] Egypt. But that is like [MET] using a broken reed for a walking stick on which you could lean. But it would pierce the hand of anyone who would lean on it! That is what the king of Egypt would be like for anyone who relied on him [for help].

See now, are you trusting for yourself on this broken staff of reed, [even] upon Egypt? whoever shall stay himself upon it, it shall even go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust on him.

22 But perhaps you will say to me, “No, we are (relying on/trusting in) Yahweh our God [to help us].” [I would reply, ] “Is he not the one whom you [insulted by] tearing down his shrines and altars and forcing everyone in Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah to worship only in front of the altar [in Jerusalem]?”’

And whereas you have said to me, We trust on the Lord God: [is] not this he, whose high places and altars Ezekias has removed, and has said to Juda and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

23 So I suggest that you make a deal between you and my master/boss, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, but [I do not think that] you are able to find 2,000 of your men who can ride on them!

And now, I pray you, make and agreement with my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you shall be able on your part to set riders upon them.

24 You are expecting the king of Egypt to send chariots and men riding horses [to assist you]. But they certainly would not [RHQ] be able to resist/defeat even the most insignificant/unimportant official in the army of Assyria!

How then will you turn away the face of one petty governor, from among the least of my lord's servants? whereas you trust for yourself on Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

25 Furthermore, (do you think that we have come to destroy Jerusalem without Yahweh’s help?/do not think that we have come to Jerusalem without Yahweh’s help.) [RHQ] It is Yahweh himself who told us to come here and destroy this land!”

And now have we 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 Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the official from Assyria, “Sir, please speak to us in your Aramaic language, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in our Hebrew language, because the people who are standing on the wall will understand it [and be frightened].”

And Heliakim the son of Chelkias, and Somnas, and Joas, said to Rapsakes, Speak now to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it; and speak not with us in the Jewish language: and why do you speak in the ears of the people that are on the wall?

27 But the official replied, “Do you think [RHQ] that my master sent me to say these things only to you and not to the people who are standing on the wall? [If you reject this message, ] the [people in this city] will soon need to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, just like you will, [because there will be nothing more for you to eat or drink].”

And Rapsakes 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 who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own water together with you.

28 Then the official stood up and shouted in the Hebrew language [to the people sitting on the wall]. He said, “Listen to this message from the great king, the king of Assyria. He says,

And Rapsakes stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, and spoke, and said, Hear the words of the great king of the Assyrians:

29 ‘Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you. He will not be able to rescue you from my power [MTY].

thus says the king, Let not Ezekias encourage you with words: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand.

30 Do not allow him to persuade you to rely on Yahweh, saying that Yahweh will rescue you, and that the army of Assyria will never capture this city!’

And let not Ezekias cause you to trust on the Lord, saying, The Lord will certainly deliver us; this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians: listen not to Ezekias:

31 “Do not pay attention to what Hezekiah says! This is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Come out of the city and surrender to me. If you do that, I will arrange for each of you to drink the juice from your own grapevines, and to eat figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells.

for thus says the king of the Assyrians, Gain my favor, and come forth to me, and every man shall drink [of the wine] of his own vine, and every man shall eat of his own fig tree, and shall drink water out of his own cistern;

32 You will be able to do that until we come and take you to a land that is like your land—a land where there is grain to make bread and vineyards to [produce grapes for making] wine. It will be a land that has plenty of olive trees and honey. If you do what the king of Assyria commands, you will not die. You will continue to live. ‘Do not allow Hezekiah to persuade you to trust in Yahweh saying that he will rescue you!

until I come and remove you to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, and bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil, and honey, and you shall live and not die: and do not you listen to Ezekias, for he deceives you, saying, The Lord shall deliver you.

33 The gods that people of other nations worship have never rescued them from the power [MTY] of the king of Assyria [RHQ]!

Have the Gods of the nations at all delivered each their own land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

34 Why were the gods of Hamath and Arpad [cities] unable to rescue their people from the king of Assyria [RHQ]? What happened to the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, [towns that we completely destroyed and their gods disappeared] [RHQ]? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?

Where is the god of Haemath, and of Arphad? where is the god of Seppharvaim, Ana, and Aba? for have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

35 No, none of the gods of the countries [that my army attacked] rescued their people [RHQ] from me! So why do you think that Yahweh will rescue you people of Jerusalem from my power [MTY]?’”

Who [is there] among all the gods of the countries, who have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

36 But the people [who were listening] stayed silent. No one said anything, because King Hezekiah had told them, “[When the official from Assyria talks to you, ] do not answer him.”

But [the men] were silent, and answered him not a word: for [there was] a commandment of the king, saying, You shall not answer him.

37 Then Eliakim the palace administrator and Shebna the court secretary and Joah the royal historian went back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn [because they were extremely distressed], and they told him what the official from Assyria had said.

And Heliakim the son of Chelcias, the steward, and Somnas the scribe, and Joas the son of Saphat the recorder came in to Ezekias, having tore their garments; and they reported to him the words of Rapsakes.