| International Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah's son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz' son Hezekiah became king. | 1In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. |
| 2He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Zechariah's daughter Abi. | 2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. |
| 3He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done. | 3He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. |
| 4He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass. | 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 called Nehushtan.) |
| 5He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah, | 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. |
| 6because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses. | 6He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. |
| 7So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah prospered wherever he went, even when he rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to serve him. | 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. |
| 8He attacked the Philistines, invading Gaza and its borders from watchtower to fortified garrison. | 8From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory. |
| 9In the fourth year of King Hezekiah's reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah's son Hoshea's reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. | 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. |
| 10Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea's reign as king of Israel. | 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. |
| 11After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, | 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. |
| 12because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice. | 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. |
| 13During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. | 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 sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I'll accept whatever tribute you impose." So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. | 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 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. |
| 15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD's Temple and from the treasuries in the king's palace. | 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 that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD's Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria. | 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. |
| 17Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. | 17The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. |
| 18When they called for the king, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder went out to them. | 18They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them. |
| 19Rab-shakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: '"Why are you so confident? | 19The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: "'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? |
| 20You're saying—but they're only empty words—'I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!' '"Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? | 20You say you have the counsel and the might for war--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? |
| 21Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! | 21Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. |
| 22"Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"' | 22But if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"--isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem"? |
| 23"Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. | 23"'Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses--if you can put riders on them! |
| 24How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? | 24How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? |
| 25"Now then, haven't I come up—apart from the LORD—to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it!'"'" | 25Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.'" |
| 26At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." | 26Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall." |
| 27But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine —along with you?" | 27But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall--who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?" |
| 28Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. | 28Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! |
| 29This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. | 29This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. |
| 30And don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, "The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria." | 30Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' |
| 31Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern | 31"Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, |
| 32until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die." 'But don't listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us!" | 32until I come and take you to a land like your own--a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! "Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' |
| 33Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? | 33Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? |
| 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? | 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? |
| 35Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control , so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?'" | 35Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?" |
| 36But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king's order was, "Don't answer him." | 36But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him." |
| 37But Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said. | 37Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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