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Hezekiah
Reigns over Judah |
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2 Kings 18:1
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Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea,
the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became
king. |
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| 2 Kings 18:2 |
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He was twenty-five years old when he became
king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was
Abi the daughter of Zechariah. |
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| 2 Kings 18:3 |
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He did right in the sight of the LORD, according
to all that his father David had done. |
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| 2 Kings 18:4 |
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He removed the high places and broke down the
sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent
that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to
it; and it was called Nehushtan. |
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| 2 Kings 18:5 |
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He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so
that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among
those who were before him. |
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| 2 Kings 18:6 |
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For he clung to the LORD; he did not depart
from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. |
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Hezekiah
Victorious |
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| 2 Kings 18:7 |
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And the LORD was with him; wherever he went
he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. |
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| 2 Kings 18:8 |
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He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and
its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. |
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| 2 Kings 18:9 |
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Now 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. |
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| 2 Kings 18:10 |
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At the end of three years they captured it;
in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel,
Samaria was captured. |
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| 2 Kings 18:11 |
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Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away
into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes, |
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| 2 Kings 18:12 |
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because they did not obey the voice of the LORD
their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the
LORD commanded; they would neither listen nor do it. |
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Invasion
of Judah |
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| 2 Kings 18:13 |
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Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah
and seized them. |
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| 2 Kings 18:14 |
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Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king
of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me; whatever
you impose on me I will bear." So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king
of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. |
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| 2 Kings 18:15 |
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Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found
in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king's house. |
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| 2 Kings 18:16 |
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At 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 gave it to the king of Assyria. |
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| 2 Kings 18:17 |
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Then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and 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 conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller's field. |
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| 2 Kings 18:18 |
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When they 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. |
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| 2 Kings 18:19 |
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Then Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah,
'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What is this confidence that
you have? |
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| 2 Kings 18:20 |
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You say (but they are only empty words), ' I
have counsel and strength for the war.' Now on whom do you rely, that you have
rebelled against me? |
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| 2 Kings 18:21 |
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Now behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed
reed, even on 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 rely on him. |
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| 2 Kings 18:22 |
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But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD
our God,' is it not 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'? |
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| 2 Kings 18:23 |
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Now therefore, come, make a bargain with 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. |
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| 2 Kings 18:24 |
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How then can you repulse one official of the
least of my master's servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? |
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| 2 Kings 18:25 |
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Have I now come up without the LORD'S approval
against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land
and destroy it.'"'" |
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| 2 Kings 18:26 |
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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah
and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand
it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on
the wall." |
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| 2 Kings 18:27 |
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But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent
me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who
sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?" |
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| 2 Kings 18:28 |
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Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice
in Judean, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. |
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| 2 Kings 18:29 |
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Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive
you, for he will not be able to deliver you from my hand; |
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| 2 Kings 18:30 |
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nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD,
saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into
the hand of the king of Assyria." |
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| 2 Kings 18:31 |
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Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the
king of Assyria, "Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of
his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, |
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| 2 Kings 18:32 |
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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 honey, that you may live and not die." But do not listen
to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." |
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| 2 Kings 18:33 |
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Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered
his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? |
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| 2 Kings 18:34 |
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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where
are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my
hand? |
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| 2 Kings 18:35 |
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Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered
their land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'" |
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| 2 Kings 18:36 |
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But the people were silent and answered him
not a word, for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him." |
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| 2 Kings 18:37 |
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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over
the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder,
came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh. |
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