He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made; for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it. And he called it Nehushtan.
And it happened in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
because they did not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not listen to them, nor do them.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; turn back from me. Whatever you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.
At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid. And he gave them to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the cupbearers from Lachish, to King Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the Fuller's Field.
And they called to the king. And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.
And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Speak now to Hezekiah, So says the great king, the king of Assyria, What hope is this in which you trust?
Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.
But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God, is He not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the chief of the cupbearers, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand. And do not talk with us in Jewish, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?
And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria.
Do not listen to Hezekiah. For so says the king of Assyria, Make with me a blessing, and come out to me, and you each shall eat of his vine, and each of his fig tree, and you each shall drink of 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 oil and of honey, and live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he deceives you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us.
And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. And they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.