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Text -- 2 Kings 18:8-37 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
18:8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory , from the watchtower to the city fortress .
18:9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea , son of Elah ), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.
18:10 After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured .
18:11 The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria . He settled them in Halah , along the Habor (the river of Gozan ), and in the cities of the Medes .
18:12 This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses , the Lord’s servant , had commanded .
Sennacherib Invades Judah
18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria , who was at Lachish , “I have violated our treaty. If you leave , I will do whatever you demand .” So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold .
18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace .
18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria .
18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general , the chief eunuch , and the chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem , along with a large army . They went up and arrived at Jerusalem . They went and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.
18:18 They summoned the king , so Eliakim son of Hilkiah , the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph , the secretary , went out to meet them.
18:19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah : ‘This is what the great king , the king of Assyria , says : “What is your source of confidence ?
18:20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk . In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me?
18:21 Now look , you must be trusting in Egypt , that splintered reed staff . If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.
18:22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God .’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem , ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem .’
18:23 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria , and I will give you two thousand horses , provided you can find enough riders for them.
18:24 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen .
18:25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it.’”’”
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah , Shebna , and Joah said to the chief adviser , “Speak to your servants in Aramaic , for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall .”
18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall , for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”
18:28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect , “Listen to the message of the great king , the king of Assyria .
18:29 This is what the king says : ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand !
18:30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says , “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria .”
18:31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah !’ For this is what the king of Assyria says , ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern ,
18:32 until I come and take you to a land just like your own– a land of grain and new wine , a land of bread and vineyards , a land of olive trees and honey . Then you will live and not die . Don’t listen to Hezekiah , for he is misleading you when he says , “The Lord will rescue us.”
18:33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria ?
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad ? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim , Hena , and Ivvah ? Indeed , did any gods rescue Samaria from my power ?
18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power ? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power ?’”
18:36 The people were silent and did not respond , for the king had ordered , “Don’t respond to him .”
18:37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah , the palace supervisor , accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph , the secretary , went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Shebna |
Isaiah |
Assyria |
CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT |
CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF |
HEZEKIAH (2) |
Israel |
BIBLE, THE, IV CANONICITY |
KINGS, BOOKS OF |
RABSHAKEH |
Jerusalem |
Diplomacy |
Hypocrisy |
Rabmag |
Seacherib |
Scribes |
Rab-shakeh |
War |
Hezekiah |
SENNACHERIB |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> 2Ki 18:8; 2Ki 18:9; 2Ki 18:9; 2Ki 18:11; 2Ki 18:12; 2Ki 18:12; 2Ki 18:12; 2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 18:15; 2Ki 18:16; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 18:19; 2Ki 18:20; 2Ki 18:23; 2Ki 18:24; 2Ki 18:25; 2Ki 18:25; 2Ki 18:26; 2Ki 18:26; 2Ki 18:27; 2Ki 18:27; 2Ki 18:27; 2Ki 18:28; 2Ki 18:29; 2Ki 18:31; 2Ki 18:33; 2Ki 18:34; 2Ki 18:34; 2Ki 18:34; 2Ki 18:35; 2Ki 18:37
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:12 Heb “all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded, and they did not listen and they did not act.”
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:14 The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When use...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:16 Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:20 Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point....
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:24 Heb “How can you turn back the face of an official [from among] the least of my master’s servants and trust in Egypt for chariots and hors...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:25 In v. 25 the chief adviser develops further the argument begun in v. 22. He claims that Hezekiah has offended the Lord and that the Lord has commissio...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:27 The chief adviser alludes to the horrible reality of siege warfare, when the starving people in the besieged city would resort to eating and drinking ...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:29 The MT has “his hand,” but this is due to graphic confusion of vav (ו) and yod (י). The translation reads “my hand,̶...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:33 Heb “Have the gods of the nations really rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The infinitive absolute lends emph...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:34 Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Sa...
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NET Notes: 2Ki 18:35 Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyr...
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