Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign over Jerusalem. He was twenty-five years old when he started his rule, and it would last for twenty-nine years.

Hezekiah did what was right in God's eyes, just like his ancestor David had done before him. He removed all the high places where people went to worship false gods, broke down their idols, destroyed their sacred trees, and smashed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, which the Israelites had continued to burn incense to until then. This idol was called Nehushtan.

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel completely, and there wasn't anyone else like him among all the kings of Judah before or after him. He stayed true to God's commands that Moses had given them and didn't stray from following Him. The Lord was with Hezekiah wherever he went, and he prospered.

Hezekiah rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. Instead, he struck down the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its surrounding areas, conquering their cities and fortresses. In the fourth year of his rule, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it for three years.

By the end of those three years, they had captured Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel. The king of Assyria led many people from Israel away to Assyria and settled them in Halah, Habor by the Gozan River, and other cities.

This happened because they disobeyed God's voice and broke their covenant with Him, refusing to follow all that Moses had commanded. In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's rule, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against Judah, conquering its fortified cities.

Hezekiah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have sinned; please withdraw from me. I will accept whatever punishment you impose." The king imposed a heavy tax on Hezekiah: three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the temple of the Lord and in his palace treasures. At that time, he also cut off the gold from the temple doors and pillars and gave it to the king of Assyria.

The king of Assyria sent a powerful army with Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They stood by the upper pool in the fuller's field and called out to the king's officials: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph.

Rabshakeh said, "Tell Hezekiah this message from the great king, the king of Assyria: What makes you think you can trust in your own strength for battle? Your words are empty. On whom do you rely to rebel against me?"

He continued, "You're relying on Egypt, which is like a broken reed that will pierce anyone who leans on it. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is just as unreliable. But if you say you trust in the Lord your God, isn't He the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has torn down? Hasn't Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at this altar in Jerusalem?"

Rabshakeh asked them, "Now give me some hostages as a guarantee that you will surrender. I'll deliver two thousand horses if you can provide riders for them." He then challenged, "How could you possibly turn away the face of one captain of my master's least servants? Do you really think Egypt can help with chariots and horsemen?"

Rabshakeh claimed, "Am I now here to destroy this city without God telling me to do so?" Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah asked him not to speak in the Judahite language so the people on the wall wouldn't understand. But Rabshakeh refused.

Instead, he shouted out in a loud voice, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!" He told them not to trust Hezekiah or believe that God would deliver them. He offered a deal: if they surrendered and made an agreement with him, they could stay in their homes, enjoying their vineyards and fig trees.

Rabshakeh boasted, "I'll take you away to a land like your own, where you can have fields of grain and orchards." He questioned the existence of any god that could deliver its people from his power. "Where are the gods of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they ever delivered Samaria out of my hand?"

The king of Assyria challenged, "Who among all the gods of other lands has ever delivered a land from my grasp?" He asked, "But is it not true that Hezekiah tore down God's high places and altars in Jerusalem and said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?"

When Rabshakeh finished speaking, the people were silent because they had been forbidden by the king to respond. Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, sharing with him the words of Rabshakeh.