2Kings:18-19
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And it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel ,
Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign .
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He [
was ]
twenty-five years old when he began to reign ,
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name [
was ]
Abi ,
the daughter of Zachariah .
*
And he did the right in the sight of Jehovah ,
according to all that David his father did .
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He removed the high places ,
and broke the pillars ,
and cut down the Asherah .
And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made ;
for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it .
And he called it Nehushtan .
*
He trusted in Jehovah God of Israel ,
and after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah ,
nor who were before him .
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For he clung to Jehovah .
He did not depart from following Him ,
but kept His commandments ,
which Jehovah commanded Moses .
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And Jehovah was with him .
He was blessed wherever he went .
And he rebelled against the king of Assyria ,
and did not serve him .
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He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders ,
from the Watch Tower to the fortified city .
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And it happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah ,
the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel ,
Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it .
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And at the end of three years they took it ,
in the sixth year of Hezekiah ,
it [
was ]
the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel ,
Samaria was taken .
*
And the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria ,
and put them in Halah and in Habor [
by ]
the river of Gozan ,
and in the cities of the Medes ,
*
because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God ,
but transgressed His covenant , [
and ]
all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded ,
and would not listen to them ,
nor do them .
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And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah ,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them .
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And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish ,
saying ,
I have offended ;
turn back from me .
Whatever you put on me I will bear .
And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver ,
and thirty talents of gold .
*
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king '
s house .
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At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD ,
and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid .
And he gave them to the king of Assyria .
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And the king of Assyria sent Tartan ,
and the chief of the eunuchs ,
and the chief of the cupbearers from Lachish ,
to king Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem .
And they went up and came to Jerusalem .
And when they had come up ,
they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool ,
which is in the highway of the Fuller '
s Field .
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And they called to the king .
And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah ,
who [
was ]
over the house ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder ,
went out to them .
*
And the chief of the cupbearers said to them ,
Speak now to Hezekiah ,
So says the great king ,
the king of Assyria ,
What hope [
is ]
this in which you trust ?
*
Do you say that a mere word of the lips [
is ]
wisdom and strength for the war ?
Now on whom do you trust that you rebel against me ?
*
Now ,
behold ,
you trust on the staff of this bruised reed ,
on Egypt ,
on which if a man leans ,
it will go into his hand and pierce it .
So [
is ]
Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him .
*
But if you say to me ,
We trust in Jehovah our God ,
is He not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away ,
and has said to Judah and Jerusalem ,
You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem ?
*
And now ,
please give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria ,
and I will deliver two thousand horses to you if you are able to set riders on them .
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And how will you turn away the face of one commander of the least of my master '
s servants ,
and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ?
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Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without Jehovah ?
Jehovah said to me ,
Go up against this land and destroy it .
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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah ,
and Shebna ,
and Joah said to the chief of the cupbearers ,
Please speak to your servants in Aramaic ,
for we understand .
And do not talk with us in Jewish ,
in the ears of the people who are on the wall .
*
And the chief of the cupbearers said to them ,
Has my master sent me to your master and to you ,
to speak these words , [
and ]
not to the men who sit on the wall ,
to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you ?
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And the chief of the cupbearers stood and cried with a loud voice in Jewish ,
and spoke ,
saying ,
Hear the word of the great king ,
the king of Assyria :
*
so says the king ,
Do not let Hezekiah deceive you .
For he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand .
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And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah ,
saying ,
Jehovah will surely deliver us ,
and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria .
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Do not listen to Hezekiah .
For so says the king of Assyria ,
Make with me a blessing ,
and come out to me ,
and you each shall eat of his vine ,
and each of his fig tree ,
and you each shall drink of the waters of his own cistern ,
*
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land ,
a land of grain and new wine ,
a land of bread and vineyards ,
a land of olive oil and of honey ,
and live ,
and not die .
And do not listen to Hezekiah when he deceives you ,
saying ,
Jehovah will deliver us .
*
Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria ?
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Where [
are ]
the gods of Hamath and of Arpad ?
Where [
are ]
the gods of Sepharvaim ,
Hena ,
and Ivah ?
Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand ?
*
Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand ,
that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ?
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But the people kept silent and did not answer him a word .
For the king '
s command was ,
saying ,
Do not answer him .
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And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah ,
who [
was ]
over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder ,
came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn .
And they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers .
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And it happened when King Hezekiah heard ,
he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth .
And he went into the house of the LORD .
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And he sent Eliakim who [
was ]
over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and the elders of the priests ,
covered with sackcloth ,
to Isaiah the prophet ,
the son of Amoz .
*
And they said to him ,
So says Hezekiah , [
This is ]
a day of trouble and of rebuke and contempt .
For the sons have come to the birth ,
and [
there is ]
no strength to bring forth .
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It may be the LORD your God will hear all the words of the chief cupbearer with which his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God ,
and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard .
And you shall lift up prayer for the rest who are left .
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And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah .
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And Isaiah said to them ,
You shall say to your master ,
So says the LORD ,
Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard ,
with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me .
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Behold ,
I will send a blast on him ,
and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land .
And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land .
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And the chief cupbearer returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah ,
for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish .
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And when he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia ,
Behold ,
he has come out to fight against you ,
he sent messengers again to Hezekiah ,
saying ,
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So you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
saying ,
Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you ,
saying ,
Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria .
*
Behold ,
you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by completely destroying them .
And shall you be delivered ?
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Have the gods of the nations delivered them ,
nations which my fathers have destroyed ,
Gozan ,
and Haran ,
and Rezeph ,
and the sons of Eden in Telassar ?
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Where [
is ]
the king of Hamath ,
and the king of Arpad ,
and the king of the city of Sepharvaim ,
of Hena ,
and of Ivah ?
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And Hezekiah received the letters from the hand of the messengers ,
and read it .
And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD ,
and spread it before the LORD .
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And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said ,
O Jehovah God of Israel ,
who dwells [
between ]
the cherubs ,
You [
are ]
God Himself ,
You alone ,
of all the kingdoms of the earth .
You have made the heavens and the earth .
*
LORD ,
bow down Your ear and hear .
O LORD ,
open Your eyes and see ,
and hear the words of Sennacherib ,
who has sent him to taunt the living God .
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Truly ,
LORD ,
the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands ,
*
and have thrown their gods into the fire ;
for they [
were ]
no gods ,
but the work of men '
s hands ,
wood and stone ,
and they have destroyed them .
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And now ,
O ,
LORD our God ,
I beseech You ,
save us out of his hand ,
so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You [
are ]
the LORD God ,
and You only .
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And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah ,
saying ,
So says Jehovah God of Israel ,
I have heard what you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria .
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This [
is ]
the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him :
The virgin ,
the daughter of Zion ,
has despised you [
and ]
laughed you to scorn .
The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you .
*
Whom have you mocked and blasphemed ?
And against whom have you exalted [
your ]
voice and lifted up your eyes on high ?
Even against the Holy One of Israel !
*
You have mocked the Lord by your messengers ,
and have said ,
With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains ,
to the sides of Lebanon ,
and will cut down its tall cedar trees ,
its choice fir trees .
And I will enter into the lodgings of its borders ,
its densest forest ;
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I have dug and drunk foreign waters ,
and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt .
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Have you not heard it from afar ,
I made it ?
From days of old I fashioned it !
Now I have caused it to come ;
that you should make fortified cities desolate heaps of ruins .
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And their people were of small power ,
they were fearful and put to shame .
They were [
like ]
the grass of the field ,
and the green herb ,
like the grass on the house-tops ,
and like grain blasted before it was grown up .
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But I know your sitting down ,
and your going out ,
and your coming in ,
and your rage against Me .
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Because of your rage against Me ,
and because your arrogance has come up into My ears ,
even I will put My hook in your nose ,
and My bridle in your lips .
And I will turn you back by the way in which you came .
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And this shall be a sign to you :
you shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves ,
and in the second year that which springs up of the same .
And in the third year ,
sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruits of them .
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And the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward .
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For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant ,
and they who escape out of Mount Zion .
The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this .
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So the LORD says this concerning the king of Assyria .
He shall not come into this city ,
nor shoot an arrow there ,
nor come before it with shield ,
nor throw up a bank against it .
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By the way that he came ,
by the same he shall return ,
and shall not come into this city ,
says the LORD .
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For I will defend this city ,
to save it for My own sake and for My servant David '
s sake .
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And it happened that night ,
the Angel of Jehovah went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians .
And they arose early in the morning ,
and behold ,
they were all dead bodies .
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And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed .
And he went and returned and lived at Nineveh .
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And it happened as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god ,
Adrammelech and Sharezer ,
his sons ,
struck him with the sword .
And they escaped into the land of Ararat .
And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place .
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In those days Hezekiah was sick to death .
And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said to him ,
So says the LORD ,
Set your house in order ,
for you shall die and not live .