2 Kings 18:4-22

2 Kings 18:4-22

[4] He removed  the high places,  and brake  the images,  and cut down  the groves,  and brake in pieces  the brasen  serpent  that Moses  had made:  for unto those days  the children  of Israel  did burn incense  to it: and he called  it Nehushtan.  [5] He trusted  in the LORD  God  of Israel;  so that after  him was none like him among all the kings  of Judah,  nor any that were before  [6] For he clave  to the LORD,  and departed  not from following  him, but kept  his commandments,  which the LORD  commanded  Moses.  [7] And the LORD  was with him; and he prospered  whithersoever he went forth:  and he rebelled  against the king  of Assyria,  and served  [8] He smote  the Philistines,  even unto Gaza,  and the borders  thereof, from the tower  of the watchmen  to the fenced  city.  [9] And it came to pass in the fourth  year  of king  Hezekiah,  which was the seventh  year  of Hoshea  son  of Elah  king  of Israel,  that Shalmaneser  king  of Assyria  came up  against Samaria,  and besieged  [10] And at the end  of three  years  they took  it: even in the sixth  year  of Hezekiah,  that is the ninth  year  of Hoshea  king  of Israel,  Samaria  was taken.  [11] And the king  of Assyria  did carry away  Israel  unto Assyria,  and put  them in Halah  and in Habor  by the river  of Gozan,  and in the cities  of the Medes:  [12] Because they obeyed  not the voice  their God,  but transgressed  his covenant,  and all that Moses  the servant  commanded,  and would not hear  them, nor do  them. [13] Now in the fourteenth  year  of king  Hezekiah  did Sennacherib  king  of Assyria  come up  against all the fenced  cities  of Judah,  and took  [14] And Hezekiah  king  of Judah  sent  to the king  of Assyria  to Lachish,  saying,  I have offended;  return  from me: that which thou puttest  on me will I bear.  And the king  of Assyria  appointed  unto Hezekiah  king  of Judah  three  hundred  talents  of silver  and thirty  talents  of gold.  [15] And Hezekiah  gave  him all the silver  that was found  in the house  of the LORD,  and in the treasures  of the king's  house.  [16] At that time  did 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 gave  it to the king  of Assyria.  [17] And the king  of Assyria  sent  Tartan  and Rabsaris  and Rabshakeh  from Lachish  to king  Hezekiah  with a great  host  against Jerusalem.  And they went up  and came  to Jerusalem.  And when they were come up,  they came  and stood  by the conduit  of the upper  pool,  which is in the highway  of the fuller's  field.  [18] And when they had called  to the king,  there came out  to them Eliakim  the son  of Hilkiah,  which was over the household,  and Shebna  the scribe,  and Joah  the son  of Asaph  the recorder.  [19] And Rabshakeh  said  ye now to Hezekiah,  Thus saith  the great  king,  of Assyria,  What confidence  is this wherein thou trustest?  [20] Thou sayest,  (but they are but vain  words,)  I have counsel  and strength  for the war.  Now on whom dost thou trust,  that thou rebellest  against me? [21] Now, behold, thou trustest  upon the staff  of this bruised  reed,  even upon Egypt,  on which if a man  lean,  it will go  into his hand,  and pierce  it: so is Pharaoh  king  of Egypt  unto all that trust  on him. [22] But if ye say  unto me, We trust  in the LORD  our God:  is not that he, whose high places  and whose altars  Hezekiah  hath taken away,  and hath said  to Judah  and Jerusalem,  Ye shall worship  before  this altar  in Jerusalem?