2 Kings 18:10-20

10 and took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken;
11 and the king of Assyrians translated Israel into (the) Assyrians, and he set them in Halah, and in Habor, (by the) rivers of Gozan, (and) in the cities of (the) Medes; (and the king of Assyria carried away the Israelites to Assyria, and he put them in Halah, and on the banks of the Habor River, that is, the river in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes;)
12 for they heard not the voice of their Lord God, but they brake his covenant (because they did not listen to, or obey, the voice of the Lord their God, but they broke his covenant); they heard not, neither did all things, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, [had] commanded.
13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyrians, went up to all the strengthened cities of Judah, and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyrians into Lachish, and said, I have sinned (I have done wrong); go away from me, and I shall bear all things, that thou shalt put to me. Therefore the king of Assyrians putted on Hezekiah, king of Judah, (a fine of) three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, to the king of Assyrians. (And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the House of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the palace, to the king of Assyria.)
16 In that time Hezekiah (also) brake (up) the gates of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold, which he had fastened (to them), and he gave those to the king of Assyrians. (And at that time Hezekiah also broke apart the gates of the Temple of the Lord; and he gave the gold plates, which he had fastened to the gates, to the king of Assyria.)
17 Forsooth the king of Assyrians sent Tartan (and Rabsaris) and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah, with strong hand to Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is in the way of the fuller, or of (the) tucker. (And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish to King Hezekiah, with a strong army against Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is on the way to the fullers, or to the tuckers.)
18 And they called (for) the king; soothly Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, (the) chancellor, the son of Asaph, went out to them.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them, Speak ye to Hezekiah, (and say,) The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is this trust, in which thou endeavourest thee?
20 In hap thou hast taken counsel, that thou wouldest make thee ready to battle. In whom trustest thou, that thou be (so) (fool-)hardy to rebel against Sennacherib?

2 Kings 18:10-20 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.