2 Kings 18:9-25

New American Standard Bible

⁹ Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, ^(A)Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ And at the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ^(B)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. ¹¹ Then the king of Assyria led Israel into exile to Assyria, and put them in ^(C)Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they ^(D)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but violated His covenant, all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

Invasion of Judah

^13 (E)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent messengers to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “^(F)I have done wrong. ^[a]Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will endure.” So the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah the payment of three hundred ^[b]talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ^15 (G)Hezekiah then gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent ^(H)Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^(I)conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road of the ^[c]fuller’s field. ¹⁸ Then they called to the king, and ^(J)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the household, ^(K)Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary, went out to them.

¹⁹ And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “^(L)What is this confidence that you ^[d]have? ²⁰ You say—but they are only ^[e]empty words—‘I have a plan and strength for the war.’ Now on whom have you relied, ^(M)that you have revolted against me? ²¹ Now behold, you have ^[f](N)relied on the ^[g]support of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^[h]hand and pierce it. That is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. ²² However, if you say to me, ‘We have trusted in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and ^(O)whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³ Now then, ^[i]come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴ How then can you drive back even ^[j]one ^[k]official of the least of my master’s servants, and ^[l]rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without ^[m]the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”