Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.
He removed the high places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and {Or, it was called}he called it {That is, A piece of brass.}Nehushtan.
He trusted in Jehovah, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him.
For he clave to Jehovah; he departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.
And Jehovah was with him; whithersoever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
He smote the Philistines unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
And the king of Assyria carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did {Hebrew: Sanherib.}Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house.
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and from the {Or, doorposts}pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria sent {The titles of Assyrian officers.}Tartan and {The titles of Assyrian officers.}Rab-saris and {The titles of Assyrian officers.}Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army unto Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.
And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the {Or, secretary}scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the {Or, chronicler}recorder.
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest (but they are but {Hebrew: a word of the lips.}vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
But if ye say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
Now therefore, I pray thee, {Or, make a wager with}give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the {Hebrew: Aramean.}Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not with us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear ye the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, {Hebrew: Make with me a blessing.}Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us.
Hath any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
Querverweise zu 2. Könige 18,4 2Kön 18,4
Howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.
And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meal-offering, and the king's burnt-offering, and his meal-offering, with the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: but the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by.
Howbeit the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their {Or, obelisks}pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.
Howbeit the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;
Howbeit the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah.
and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their {Or, obelisks}pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.
that whosoever {Or, believeth in him may have}believeth may in him have eternal life.
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.
And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said unto him, Take thy father's bullock, {Or, and}even the second bullock seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is {Or, upon}by it;
Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Jehovah until those days.
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was {Or, upon}by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
And also Maacah his mother he removed from being {Or, queen mother}queen, because she had made an abominable image {Or, for Asherah}for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; He turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah: howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away the Asheroth out of the land, and hast set thy heart to seek God.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places,And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the {Or, obelisks}pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
For when I had brought them into the land, which I {Hebrew: lifted up my hand.}sware to give unto them, then they {Or, looked out for}saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their drink-offerings.
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
Then I said unto them, What meaneth the high place {Or, whereunto ye go, and the name whereof…day?}whereunto ye go? So the name thereof is called {That is, High place.}Bamah unto this day.