2 Kings 18:4-22

41He removed the high places and smashed the memorial stones to pieces, and cut down the 2Asherah. He also crushed to pieces 3the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it; and it was called 4Nehushtan. 55He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; and 6after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who came before him. 6For he 7clung to the Lord; he did not desist from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 78And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he was successful. And 9he revolted against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 810He 11defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from 12watchtower to fortified city.

9Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, 13Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. 10And at the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was 14the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. 11Then the king of Assyria led Israel into exile to Assyria, and put them in 15Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 12This happened because they 16did 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.

1317Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 14Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent messengers to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “18I have done wrong. 19Withdraw 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 20talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 1521Hezekiah then gave him all the silver that 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 he gave it to the king of Assyria.

17Then the king of Assyria sent 22Tartan, 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 23conduit of the upper pool, which is on the road of the 24fuller’s field. 18Then they called to the king, and 25Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the household, 26Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary, went out to them.

19And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “27What is this confidence that you 28have? 20You say--but they are only 29empty words-I have a plan and strength for the war.’ Now on whom have you relied, 30that you have revolted against me? 21Now behold, you have 3132relied on the 33support of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his 34hand and pierce it. That is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. 22However, if you say to me, ‘We have trusted in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and 35whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?