4
1He removed the high places and broke the
2pillars and cut down
3the Asherah. And he broke in pieces
4the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
5
5He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel,
6so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
6
7For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.
7
8And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out,
9he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
8
10He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory,
11from watchtower to fortified city.
9
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel,
12Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it,
10
and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11
The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in
13Halah, and on the
14Habor,
15the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12
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 neither listened nor obeyed.
Sennacherib Attacks Judah
13 16In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14
And 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."
17And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.