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 18,12 2Kön 18,12
And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they {Or, practised}made.
And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Jehovah their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
and they set them up {Or, obelisks}pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree;
and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Jehovah carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger;
and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God.
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.
And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Also Judah kept not the commandments of Jehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they {Or, practised}made.
And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam {According to another reading, drew Israel away.}drove Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin a great sin.
And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spake by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house:
As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God.
So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah.
and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of Jehovah, that Jehovah spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not {Hebrew: allotted.}given unto them:
therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book;
and Jehovah rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day.
And the Lord's {Greek: bondservant.}servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?
And Moses indeed was faithful in all {That is, God's house. See Numbers 12:7.}his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art {Hebrew: a God of forgivenesses.}a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not.
but Christ as a son, over {That is, God's house. See Numbers 12:7.}his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and they wrought great provocations.
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.
Fools because of {Hebrew: the way of their transgression.}their transgression,And because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; {Or, though}for we have rebelled against him;
neither have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him.
Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.
rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of our Lord Jesus:
and, {Isaiah 8:14.}A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; {Greek: who.}for they {Or, stumble, being disobedient to the word}stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the {Greek: good tidings. See Matthew 4:23 margin.}gospel of God?