1 Now it came to pass in the third year of aHoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, thatbHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name wasaAbi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did whatwas right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
4aHe removed the1 high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the2 wooden image and broke in pieces the bbronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it3 Nehushtan.
5 He atrusted in the Lord God of Israel, bso that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
6 For he aheld fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
7 The Lordawas with him; he bprospered wherever he went. And he crebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8aHe1 subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, bfrom watchtower to fortified city.
9 Now ait came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is,athe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11aThen the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them bin Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they adid not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
13 And ain the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 So Hezekiah agave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah stripped thegoldfrom the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave1 it to the king of Assyria.
Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the1 Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aaqueduct from the upper pool, bwhich was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.
18 And when they had called to the king, aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.
In the third year - If Hoshea ascended the throne toward the close of the 12th year of Ahaz II Kings 17:1, and if Ahaz reigned not much more than 15 years II Kings 16:2, the first of Hezekiah might synchronise in part with Hoshea' s third year.
Hezekiah - The name given by our translators follows the Greek form, ̓́ Ezekias , rather than the Hebrew, which is Hizkiah. Its meaning is "strength of Yahweh."
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing 2 Kings 18:1:
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
