2 Kings 18

Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah Ibn 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: and his mother's name was Abi Bint Zakariyya. ³He did that which was right in the eyes of Allah, according to all that Dawud his father had done. ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze snake that Musa had made; for until those days Bani-Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. ⁵Hezekiah trusted in Allah, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him. ⁶For he held fast to Allah; he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Allah commanded Musa. ⁷Allah was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him. ⁸He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. ⁹It happened 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 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 did not obey the voice of Allah their God, but violated his covenant, even all that Musa the servant of Allah commanded, and would not listen to it, nor obey 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 done wrong; turn away from me: that which you demand of me I will pay. The king of Assyria exacted from 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 house of Allah, and in the treasures of the king's house. ¹⁶At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Allah, 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 and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is on the road to the Fuller's Field. ¹⁸When they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim Ibn Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah Ibn Asaph the recorder. ¹⁹Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust? ²⁰You say you have strategy and military strength for battle, but they are empty words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Firaun king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²²But if you tell me, We trust in Allah our God; isn't he the one 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, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴How then can you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without Allah? Allah said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. ²⁶Then Eliakim Ibn Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic; for we understand it: and do not speak to us in Hebrew 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 who eat and drink their own waste with you? ²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand: ³⁰neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Allah, saying, Allah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and every one of you will eat of his own vine and fig tree, and everyone will drink the waters of 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: and do not listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, Allah 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 Allah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ³⁶But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, Do not answer him. ³⁷Then Eliakim Ibn Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah Ibn Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.