|
|
|
||||||
 |
Chapter 18 Hezekiah King of Judah 1In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was AbijahHebrew Abi, a variant of Abijah daughter of Zechariah.3He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.4He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was calledOr He called it Nehushtan.Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for bronze and snake and unclean thing.) 5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.6He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.7And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.8From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.9In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it.10At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.11The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.12This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out. 13In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.14So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talentsThat is, about 11 tons (about 10 metric tons) of silver and thirty talentsThat is, about 1 ton (about 1 metric ton) of gold.15So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria. Hide Notes
|
 |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
