1
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz began his rule over Judah.
2
He was twenty-five years old when he became king and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
3
In God's opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David.
4
He got rid of the local fertility shrines, smashed the phallic stone monuments, and cut down the sex-and-religion Asherah groves. As a final stroke he pulverized the ancient bronze serpent that Moses had made; at that time the Israelites had taken up the practice of sacrificing to it - they had even dignified it with a name, Nehushtan (The Old Serpent).
5
Hezekiah put his whole trust in the God of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after.
6
He held fast to God - never loosened his grip - and obeyed to the letter everything God had commanded Moses.
7
And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures.
8
And he drove back the Philistines, whether in sentry outposts or fortress cities, all the way to Gaza and its borders.
9
In the fourth year of Hezekiah and the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked Samaria. He threw a siege around it