2 Kings 18:1-8

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

1 Now it came about ¹in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that ²Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

2 He was ³twenty-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.

3 ⁴He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.

4 ⁵He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces ⁶the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.

5 ⁷He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; ⁸so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

6 For he ⁹clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Victorious

7 ¹⁰And the LORD was with him; wherever * he went he prospered. And ¹¹he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

8 ¹²He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from ¹³watchtower to fortified city.

2 Kings 18:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 18

This chapter begins with the good reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, the reformation he made in the kingdom, and the prosperity that attended him when Israel was carried captive, 2Ki 18:1-12 and gives an account of the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Assyria, and of the distress Hezekiah was in, and the hard measures he was obliged to submit unto, 2Ki 18:13-18 and of the reviling and blasphemous speech of Rabshakeh, one of the generals of the king of Assyria, urging the Jews to a revolt from their king, 2Ki 18:19-37.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 16:2; 2 Kings 17:1
• 2. 2 Chronicles 28:27
• 3. 2 Chronicles 29:1, 2
• 4. 2 Kings 20:3; 2 Chronicles 31:20
• 5. 2 Kings 18:22; 2 Chronicles 31:1
• 6. Numbers 21:8, 9
• 7. 2 Kings 19:10
• 8. 2 Kings 23:25
• 9. Deuteronomy 10:20; Joshua 23:8
• 10. Genesis 39:2, 3; 1 Samuel 18:14
• 11. 2 Kings 16:7
• 12. 2 Chronicles 28:18; Isaiah 14:29
• 13. 2 Kings 17:9

Footnotes

• [a]. I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deity
• [b]. I.e. a piece of bronze
• [c]. Lit "smote"