1And it came to be in the third year of Hoshĕa son of Ělah, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, that Ḥizqiyah son of Aḥaz, sovereign of Yehuḏah, began to reign.

2He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. And his mother’s name was Aḇi, daughter of Zeḵaryah.

3And he did what was right in the eyes of יהוה, according to all that his father Dawiḏ did.

4He took away the high places and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashĕrah, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Mosheh had made, for until those days the children of Yisra’ĕl burned incense to it, and called it Neḥushtan.

5He put his trust in יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, and after him was none like him among all the sovereigns of Yehuḏah, nor who were before him,

6and he clung to יהוה. He did not turn away from following Him, but guarded His commands, which יהוה had commanded Mosheh.

7And יהוה was with him – wherever he went he acted wisely. And he rebelled against the sovereign of Ashshur and did not serve him.

8He smote the Philistines, as far as Azzah and its borders – from watchtower unto the walled city.

9And it came to be in the fourth year of Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshĕa son of Ělah, sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, that Shalmaneser sovereign of Ashshur came up against Shomeron and besieged it,

10and they captured it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Ḥizqiyah, that is the ninth year of Hoshĕa sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, Shomeron was captured.

11And the sovereign of Ashshur exiled Yisra’ĕl to Ashshur, and placed them in Ḥalaḥ and Ḥaḇor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12because they did not obey the voice of יהוה their Elohim, but transgressed His covenant – all that Mosheh the servant of יהוה had commanded. And they did not obey nor do them.

13And in the fourteenth year of Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu, Sanḥĕriḇ sovereign of Ashshur came up against all the walled cities of Yehuḏah and captured them.

14And Ḥizqiyah sovereign of Yehuḏah sent to the sovereign of Ashshur at Laḵish, saying, “I have done wrong, turn away from me. I shall bear whatever you impose on me.” And the sovereign of Ashshur imposed upon Ḥizqiyah, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15And Ḥizqiyah gave him all the silver that was found in the House of יהוה and in the treasuries of the sovereign’s house.

16At that time Ḥizqiyah cut off the doors of the Hĕḵal of יהוה, and the doorposts which Ḥizqiyah sovereign of Yehuḏah had overlaid, and gave it to the sovereign of Ashshur.

17And the sovereign of Ashshur sent the Tartan, and the Raḇsaris, and the Raḇshaqĕh from Laḵish, with a great army against Yerushalayim, to Sovereign Ḥizqiyahu. And they went up and came to Yerushalayim. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the channel of the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Launderer’s Field.

18And they called to the sovereign. And Elyaqim son of Ḥilqiyahu, who was over the household, and Sheḇnah the scribe, and Yo’aḥ son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.

19And the Raḇshaqĕh said to them, “Please say to Ḥizqiyahu, ‘Thus said the great sovereign, the sovereign of Ashshur, “What is this trust in which you have trusted?

20“You have spoken of having counsel and strength for battle, but they are only words of the lips! And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

21“Now look! You have put your trust in the staff of this crushed reed, Mitsrayim, on which if a man leans, it shall go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim to all who trust in him.

22“But when you say to me, ‘We trust in יהוה our Elohim,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Ḥizqiyahu has taken away, and said to Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim, ‘Bow yourselves before this altar in Yerushalayim’?” ’

23“And now, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the sovereign of Ashshur, then I give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put riders on them!

24“And how do you turn back the face of one commander of the least of my master’s servants, and trust in Mitsrayim for chariots and horsemen?

25“Have I now come up without יהוה against this place to destroy it? יהוה said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and you shall destroy it.’ ”

26Then said Elyaqim son of Ḥilqiyahu, and Sheḇnah, and Yo’aḥ to the Raḇshaqĕh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. And do not speak to us in the language of Yehuḏah, in the ears of the people on the wall.”

27And the Raḇshaqĕh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, with you?”

28And the Raḇshaqĕh stood and called out with a loud voice in the language of Yehuḏah, and spoke and said, “Hear the word of the great sovereign, the sovereign of Ashshur!

29“Thus said the sovereign, ‘Do not let Ḥizqiyahu deceive you, for he is unable to deliver you out of his hand,

30and do not let Ḥizqiyahu make you trust in יהוה, saying, “יהוה shall certainly deliver us, and this city is not given into the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur.” ’

31“Do not listen to Ḥizqiyahu, for thus said the sovereign of Ashshur, ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me, and let each of you eat from his own vine and each from his own fig tree, and each of you drink the waters of his own cistern,

32until I come. Then I shall 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, and live, and not die. But do not listen to Ḥizqiyahu, when he misleads you, saying, “יהוה shall deliver us.”

33‘Has any of the mighty ones of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur?

34‘Where are the mighty ones of Ḥamath and Arpaḏ? Where are the mighty ones of Sepharwayim and Hĕna and Iwwah? Did they deliver Shomeron from my hand?

35‘Who among all the mighty ones of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that יהוה should deliver Yerushalayim from my hand?’ ”

36But the people were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the sovereign was, “Do not answer him.”

37And Elyaqim son of Ḥilqiyah, who was over the household, and Sheḇnah the scribe, and Yo’aḥ son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Ḥizqiyahu with their garments torn, and they reported to him the words of the Raḇshaqĕh.