2 Kings 18

ENGWEBEnglish37 verses

1Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

3He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.

4He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.

5He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him.

6For he joined with Yahweh; he didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.

7Yahweh was with him; wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn’t serve him.

8He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

9In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12because they didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

13Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.

14Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, “I have offended; return from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in Yahweh’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house.

16At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of Yahweh’s temple, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. 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.

18When they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

19Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?

20You say (but they are but vain words), ‘There is counsel and strength for war.’ Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

21Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.

22But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God;’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?’

23Now therefore, please give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

24How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25Have I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”’”

26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Jews’ language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

27But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn’t he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?”

28Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

29Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand.

30Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

31Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern;

32until 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 trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.”

33Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

35Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

36But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”

37Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Commentary

18:1-8 Hezekiah was a true son of David. Some others did that which was right, but not like David. Let us not suppose that when times and men are bad, they must needs grow worse and worse; that does not follow: after many bad kings, God raised one up like David himself. The brazen serpent had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God's goodness to their fathers in the wilderness; but it was idle and wicked to burn incense to it. All helps to devotion, not warranted by the word of God, interrupt the exercise of faith; they always lead to superstition and other dangerous evils. Human nature perverts every thing of this kind. True faith needs not such aids; the word of God, daily thought upon and prayed over, is all the outward help we need.

CHAPTER 182Ki 18:1-3. Hezekiah's Good Reign.1, 2. Hezekiah … began to reign. Twenty and five years old—According to this statement (compare 2Ki 16:2), he must have been born when his father Ahaz was no more than eleven years old. Paternity at an age so early is not unprecedented in the warm climates of the south, where the human frame is matured sooner than in our northern regions. But the case admits of solution in a different way. It was customary for the later kings of Israel to assume their son and heir into partnership in the government during their lives; and as Hezekiah began to reign in the third year of Hoshea (2Ki 18:1), and Hoshea in the twelfth year of Ahaz (2Ki 17:1), it is evident that Hezekiah began to reign in the fourteenth year of Ahaz his father, and so reigned two or three years before his father's death. So that, at the beginning of his reign in conjunction with his father, he might be only twenty-two or twenty-three, and Ahaz a few years older than the common calculation makes him. Or the case may be solved thus: As the ancient writers, in the computation of time, take notice of the year they mention, whether finished or newly begun, so Ahaz might be near twenty-one years old at the beginning of his reign, and near seventeen years older at his death; while, on the other hand, Hezekiah, when he began to reign, might be just entering into his twenty-fifth year, and so Ahaz would be near fourteen years old when his son Hezekiah was born—no uncommon age for a young man to become a father in southern latitudes [Patrick].

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel,.... That is, in the third year of his rebelling against the king of Assyria, when he shook off his yoke, and refused to be tributary to him any longer, see 2Ki 17:1,

[that] Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign; having finished the account of the kingdom of Israel, and the captivity of the people, the historian returns to the kingdom of Judah, and the things of it.

Chapter 18 When the prophet had condemned Ephriam for lies and deceit he comforted himself with this, that Judah yet "ruled with God, and was faithful with the Most Holy," Hos. 11:12. It was a very melancholy view which the last chapter gave us of the desolations of Israel; but this chapter shows us the affairs of Judah in a good posture at the same time, that it may appear God has not quite cast off the seed of Abraham, Rom. 11:1. Hezekiah is here upon the throne, I. Reforming his kingdom (v. 1-6). II. Prospering in all his undertakings (v. 7, 8), and this at the same time when the ten tribes were led captive (v. 9–12). III. Yet invaded by Sennacherib, the king of Assyria (v. 13). 1. His country put under contribution (v. 14–16). 2. Jerusalem besieged (v. 17). 3. God blasphemed, himself reviled, and his people solicited to revolt, in a virulent speech made by Rabshakeh (v. 18–37). But how well it ended, and how much to the honour and comfort of our great reformer, we shall find in the next chapter.Verses 1-8 We have here a general account of the reign of Hezekiah. It appears, by comparing his age with his father’s, that he was born when his father was about eleven or twelve years old, divine Providence so ordering that he might be of full age, and fit for business, when the measure of his father’s iniquity should be full. Here is,I. His great piety, which was the more wonderful because his father was very wicked and vile, one of the worst of the kings, yet he was one of the best, which may intimate to us that what good there is in any is not of nature, but of grace, free grace, sovereign grace, which, contrary to nature, grafts into the good olive that which was wild by nature (Rom. 11:24), and also that grace gets over the greatest difficulties and disadvantages: Ahaz, it is likely, gave his son a bad education as well as a bad example; Urijah his priest perhaps had the tuition of him; his attendants and companions, we may suppose, were such as were addicted to idolatry; and yet Hezekiah became eminently good. When God’s grace will work what can hinder it?1. He was a genuine son of David, who had a great many degenerate ones (v. 3): He did that which was right, according to all that David his father did, with whom the covenant was made, and therefore he was entitled to the benefit of it. We have read of some of them who did that which was right, but not like David, ch. 14:3. They did not love God’s ordinances, nor cleave to them, as he did; but Hezekiah was a second David, had such a love for God’s word, and God’s house, as he had. Let us not be frightened with an apprehension of the continual decay of virtue, as if, when times and men are bad, they must needs, of course, grow worse and worse; that does not follow, for, after many bad kings, God raised up one that was like David himself.2. He was a zealous reformer of his kingdom, and as we find (2 Chr. 29:3) he began betimes to be so, fell to work as soon as ever he came to the crown, and lost no time. He found his kingdom very corrupt, the people in all things too superstitious. They had always been so, but in the last reign worse than ever.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG እንዲህም ሆነ፤ በእስራኤል ንጉሥ በኤላ ልጅ በሆሴዕ በሦስተኛው ዓመት የይሁዳ ንጉሥ የአካዝ ልጅ ሕዝቅያስ ነገሠ። አማርኛ ENGNIV In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. English BCV ከምዙይ ድማ ኾነ፦ ሆሴዕ ወዲ ኤላ ኣብ እስራኤል ምስ ነገሰ፥ ኣብ መበል ሳልሰይቲ ዓመቱ፥ ሕዝቅያስ ወዲ ኣካዝ ኣብ ይሁዳ ነገሰ። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Hose'a ilmi Elaa mootiin Israa'el mo'ee waggaa sadaffaa isaatti, Hisqiyaas ilmi Ahaaz immoo mootii Yihudaa in ta'e. Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወአመ ሣልስ ዓመተ መንግሥቱ ለሆሴዕ ወልደ ኤላ ንጉሠ እስራኤል ነግሠ ሕዝቅያስ ወልደ አካዝ ንጉሠ ይሁዳ። giz GAZGAZ Hose'a ilmi Elaa mootiin Israa'el mo'ee waggaa sadaffaa isaatti, Hisqiyaas ilmi Ahaaz immoo mootii Yihudaa in ta'e. Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ከምዙይ ድማ ኾነ፦ ሆሴዕ ወዲ ኤላ ኣብ እስራኤል ምስ ነገሰ፥ ኣብ መበል ሳልሰይቲ ዓመቱ፥ ሕዝቅያስ ወዲ ኣካዝ ኣብ ይሁዳ ነገሰ። ትግርኛ AMHNIV የእስራኤል ንጉሥ የኤላ ልጅ ሆሴዕ በነገሠ በሦስተኛው ዓመት የይሁዳ ንጉሥ የአካዝ ልጅ ሕዝቅያስ ነገሠ። አማርኛ