2 Kings 18:1-19
Hezekiah Becomes King of Judah
1 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. 2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother ▼▼tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
was Abi, ▼▼tn The parallel passage in 2 Chr 29:1 has “Abijah.”
the daughter of Zechariah. 3He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done. ▼▼tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord, according to all which David his father had done.”
4He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ▼▼tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.
▼▼sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ▼▼tn Heb “until those days.”
the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ▼▼tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nekhash hannekhoshet), “bronze serpent.”
5He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after. ▼▼tn Heb “and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, and those who were before him.”
6He was loyal to ▼▼tn Heb “he hugged.”
the Lord and did not abandon him. ▼▼tn Heb “and did not turn aside from after him.”
He obeyed the commandments that the Lord had given to ▼▼tn Heb “had commanded.”
Moses. 7The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. ▼▼tn Heb “in all which he went out [to do], he was successful.”
He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him. ▼▼tn Heb “and did not serve him.”
8He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. 9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up ▼ against Samaria and besieged it. 10After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel, Samaria was captured. 11The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel ▼▼tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” as the object of the verb.
to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. 12This happened because they did not obey ▼▼tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
the Lord their God and broke his covenant with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. ▼▼tn Heb “all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded, and they did not listen and they did not act.”
Sennacherib Invades Judah
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. ▼▼tn Or “I have done wrong.”
If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” ▼▼tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”
So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 300 talents ▼▼tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.
of silver and 30 talents of gold. 15Hezekiah gave him all the silver in ▼▼tn Heb “that was found.”
the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts that he had plated ▼▼tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”
and gave them to the king of Assyria. 17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser ▼▼sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.
from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went ▼▼tn Heb “and they went up and came.”
and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ▼▼tn Heb “the field of the fuller.”
18They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna, the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them. 19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ▼▼tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”
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