2 Kings 16-20

New King James Version

Ahaz Reigns in Judah^(A)

16 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 became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed ^(B)he made his son pass through the fire, according to the ^(C)abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the ^(D)high places, ^(E)on the hills, and under every green tree.

^5 (F)Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Syria ^(G)captured ^[a]Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the ^[b]Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(H)Tiglath-Pileser^[c] king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” ⁸ And Ahaz ^(I)took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against ^(J)Damascus and ^(K)took it, carried its people captive to ^(L)Kir, and killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ Then ^(M)Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and ^(N)the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. ¹³ So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ He also brought ^(O)the bronze altar which was before the Lord, from the front of the ^[d]temple—from between the new altar and the house of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great new altar burn ^(P)the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

^17 (Q)And King Ahaz cut off ^(R)the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down ^(S)the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. ¹⁸ Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king’s outer entrance from the house of the Lord, on account of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and ^(T)was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(U)Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (V)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea ^(W)became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. ⁴ And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria^(X)

⁵ Now ^(Y)the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. ^6 (Z)In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and ^(AA)carried Israel away to Assyria, ^(AB)and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ For ^(AC)so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ^(AD)feared other gods, ⁸ and ^(AE)had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹ Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ^[e]high places in all their cities, ^(AF)from watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (AG)They set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^(AH)wooden images^{[f] (AI)}on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹² for they served idols, ^(AJ)of which the Lord had said to them, ^(AK)“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^(AL)prophets, ^(AM)every seer, saying, ^(AN)“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 Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^(AO)stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^(AP)did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ And they ^(AQ)rejected His statutes ^(AR)and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^(AS)idols, ^(AT)became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^(AU)not do like them. ¹⁶ So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^(AV)made for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^(AW)made a wooden image and worshiped all the ^(AX)host of heaven, ^(AY)and served Baal. ^17 (AZ)And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^(BA)practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^(BB)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^(BC)but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Also ^(BD)Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and ^(BE)delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His ^(BF)sight. ²¹ For ^(BG)He tore Israel from the house of David, and ^(BH)they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. ²² For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, ²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, ^(BI)as He had said by all His servants the prophets. ^(BJ)So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (BK)Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, ^(BL)Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. ²⁵ And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁸ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them ^(BM)in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. ³⁰ The men of ^(BN)Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ^31 (BO)and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(BP)burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared the Lord, ^(BQ)and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the ^[g]high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ^33 (BR)They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

³⁴ To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, ^(BS)whom He named Israel, ³⁵ with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: ^(BT)“You shall not fear other gods, nor ^(BU)bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶ but the Lord, who ^(BV)brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and ^(BW)an outstretched arm, ^(BX)Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^(BY)you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you, ^(BZ)you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹ But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. ^41 (CA)So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah^(CB)

18 Now it came to pass in the third year of ^(CC)Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that ^(CD)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(CE)Abi^[h] the daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4 (CF)He removed the ^[i]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the ^[j]wooden image and broke in pieces the ^(CG)bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it ^[k]Nehushtan. ⁵ He ^(CH)trusted in the Lord God of Israel, ^(CI)so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. ⁶ For he ^(CJ)held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord ^(CK)was with him; he ^(CL)prospered wherever he went. And he ^(CM)rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ^8 (CN)He ^[l]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(CO)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ Now ^(CP)it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, ^(CQ)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ^11 (CR)Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them ^(CS)in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they ^(CT)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

¹³ And ^(CU)in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah ^(CV)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave ^[m]it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(CW)

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the ^[n]Tartan, the ^[o]Rabsaris, and the ^[p]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the ^(CX)aqueduct from the upper pool, ^(CY)which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, ^(CZ)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the ^[q]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. ¹⁹ Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ^(DA)“What confidence is this in which you trust? ²⁰ You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are ^[r]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? ^21 (DB)Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(DC)whose ^[s]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ ²³ Now therefore, I urge you, 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! ²⁴ How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and 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 (DD)Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(DE)Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in ^[t]Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in ^[u]Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ^(DF)‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; ³⁰ nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me ^[v]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own ^(DG)vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(DH)a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ^33 (DI)Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of ^(DJ)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and ^(DK)Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, ^(DL)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

³⁶ But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(DM)with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Assures Deliverance^(DN)

19 And ^(DO)so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with ^(DP)sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to ^[w]bring them forth. ^4 (DQ)It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(DR)reproach the living God, and will ^(DS)rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ^6 (DT)And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be ^(DU)afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the ^(DV)servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Surely I will send ^(DW)a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer^(DX)

⁸ Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed ^(DY)from Lachish. ⁹ And ^(DZ)the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God ^(EA)in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ^12 (EB)Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of ^(EC)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (ED)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

^14 (EE)And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One ^(EF)who dwells between the cherubim, ^(EG)You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ^16 (EH)Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(EI)open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, ^(EJ)which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were ^(EK)not gods, but ^(EL)the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, ^(EM)that all the kingdoms of the earth may ^(EN)know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib^(EO)

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(EP)‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^(EQ)I have heard.’ ²¹ This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ ‘This shall be a ^(FD)sign to you:

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(FK)

³⁵ And ^(FL)it came to pass on a certain night that the ^[z]angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at ^(FM)Nineveh. ³⁷ Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons ^(FN)Adrammelech and Sharezer ^(FO)struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then ^(FP)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Life Extended^(FQ)

20 In ^(FR)those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”

² Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, ^3 (FS)“Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and tell Hezekiah ^(FT)the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(FU)“I have heard your prayer, I have seen ^(FV)your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(FW)I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

⁷ Then ^(FX)Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(FY)“What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

⁹ Then Isaiah said, ^(FZ)“This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”

¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten ^[aa]degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

¹¹ So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and ^(GA)He brought the shadow ten ^[ab]degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

The Babylonian Envoys^(GB)

^12 (GC)At that time ^[ac]Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And ^(GD)Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and ^[ad]all ^[ae]his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

So Hezekiah answered, ^(GE)“They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, ^(GF)shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘And ^(GG)they shall take away some of your sons who will ^[af]descend from you, whom you will beget; ^(GH)and they shall be ^(GI)eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

¹⁹ So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(GJ)“The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”

Death of Hezekiah^(GK)

^20 (GL)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he ^(GM)made a ^(GN)pool and a ^[ag]tunnel and ^(GO)brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²¹ So ^(GP)Hezekiah ^[ah]rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.