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Day 106 of 365

about 19 minutes

2 Kings 16-18

2 Kings Chapter 16

¹In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. ²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father. ³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. ⁴He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ⁶At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and live there to this day. ⁷So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” ⁸Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the LORD’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. ¹⁰King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it. ¹¹Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹²When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it. ¹³He burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the LORD’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to the LORD’s house, because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

1: In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

2: Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father.

3: But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

4: He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

5: Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

6: At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and live there to this day.

7: So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.”

8: Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the LORD’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

9: The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.

10: King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it.

11: Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.

12: When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it.

13: He burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

14: The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the LORD’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar.

15: King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.”

16: Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

17: King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.

18: He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to the LORD’s house, because of the king of Assyria.

19: Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20: Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 17

¹In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years. ²He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. ⁴The king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison. ⁵Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. ⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made. ⁹The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God; and they built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; ¹⁰and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; ¹¹and there they burned incense in all the high places, as the nations whom the LORD carried away before them did; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger; ¹²and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³Yet the LORD testified to Israel and to Judah, by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck like the neck of their fathers who didn’t believe in the LORD their God. ¹⁵They rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal. ¹⁷They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. ¹⁹Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰The LORD rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight. ²¹For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. ²²The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them ²³until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day. ²⁴The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. ²⁹However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. ³⁰The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²So they feared the LORD, and also made from among themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. ³³They feared the LORD, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. ³⁴To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; ³⁵with whom the LORD had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him. ³⁷The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods. ³⁸You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods. ³⁹But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰However they didn’t listen, but they did what they did before. ⁴¹So these nations feared the LORD, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.

1: In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.

2: He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

3: Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.

4: The king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison.

5: Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6: In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7: It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8: and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.

9: The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God; and they built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;

10: and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

11: and there they burned incense in all the high places, as the nations whom the LORD carried away before them did; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger;

12: and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13: Yet the LORD testified to Israel and to Judah, by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

14: Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck like the neck of their fathers who didn’t believe in the LORD their God.

15: They rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.

16: They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

17: They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

18: Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19: Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20: The LORD rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21: For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

22: The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them

23: until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

24: The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

25: So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26: Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”

27: Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”

28: So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29: However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

30: The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31: and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32: So they feared the LORD, and also made from among themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33: They feared the LORD, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

34: To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

35: with whom the LORD had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;

36: but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.

37: The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods.

38: You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods.

39: But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”

40: However they didn’t listen, but they did what they did before.

41: So these nations feared the LORD, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.

2 Kings Chapter 18

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. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ³He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in the LORD, 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 the LORD. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. ⁷The LORD 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 LORD their God’s voice, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear it or 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 at Lachish, saying, “I have offended you. Withdraw 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 the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the LORD’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, 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, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came out to them. ¹⁹Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “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 the LORD 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 the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ” ’ ” ²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 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 urine 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. ²⁹The king says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. ³⁰Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD 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 the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from 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, “The LORD 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 the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ” ³⁶But the people stayed quiet, 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 Rabshakeh’s words.

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

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

3: He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done.

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

5: He trusted in the LORD, 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.

6: For he joined with the LORD. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

7: The LORD was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn’t serve him.

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

9: In 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.

10: At 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.

11: The 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,

12: because they didn’t obey the LORD their God’s voice, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear it or do it.

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

14: Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have offended you. Withdraw 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.

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

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

17: The king of Assyria sent Tartan, 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.

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

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

20: You 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?

21: Now, 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.

22: But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the LORD 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’?

23: Now 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.

24: How 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?

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

26: Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 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.”

27: But 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 urine with you?”

28: Then 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.

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

30: Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

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

32: until 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, “The LORD will deliver us.”

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

34: Where 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?

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

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

37: Then 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 Rabshakeh’s words.

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Scripture text: World English Bible, Catholic Edition (WEBC) — public domain

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