2 Kings 18:7-24

71And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And 2he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 83He 4defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from 5watchtower to fortified city.

9Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, 6Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was 7the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. 11Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in 8Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12because they 9did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

1310Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “11I have done wrong. 12Withdraw from me; whatever you 13impose on me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria 14required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 1515Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16At 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 gave it to the king of Assyria.

17Then the king of Assyria sent 16Tartan and 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 17conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the 18fuller’s field. 18When they called to the king, 19Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and 20Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

19Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “21What is this confidence that you 22have? 20You say (but they are 23only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, 24that you have rebelled against me? 21Now behold, you 2526rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 27hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and 28whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23Now therefore, 29come, make a bargain with 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 30repulse one 31official of the least of my master’s servants, and 32rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?