Chapter 13
1; In the twenty third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, seventeen years.
2; And he did the evil in the eyes of YAHWEH, and went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he did not turn aside from it.
3; And the anger of YAHWEH glowed against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all the days.
4; And Jehoahaz sought the face of YAHWEH, and YAHWEH listened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel; for the king of Syria had oppressed them.
5; And YAHWEH gave a deliverer to Israel, and they went out from under the hand of Syria, and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before.
6; Only, they did not turn aside from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin; he walked in it, and also the Asherah remained in Samaria.
7; For he did not leave to Jehoahaz any of the people except fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like dust by threshing.
8; And the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel?
9; And Jehoahaz lay with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And his son Joash reigned in his place.
10; In the thirty seventh year of Joash the king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz reigned over Israel, in Samaria, sixteen years.
11; And he did the evil in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; he walked in it.
12; And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought with Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel?
13; And Joash lay with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14; And Elisha had become sick with his illness in which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept on his face, and said, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen!
15; And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took bow and arrows to himself.
16; And he said to the king of Israel, Cause your hand to ride on the bow. And he caused his hand to ride. And Elisha placed his hand on the hands of the king,
17; and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of deliverance of YAHWEH, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek, until it is finished.
18; And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them up. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike the earth. And he struck three times, and stopped.
19; And the man of The Elohim was angry with him, and said, By striking five or six times, then you would have smitten Syria until it was finished; but now, you shall strike Syria three times.
20; And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of Moab came into the land, at the beginning of the year;
21; and it happened, they were burying a man; and, behold, they saw the band, and threw the man into the grave of Elisha. And the man fell and touched the bones of Elisha, and came alive, and rose on his feet.
22; And Hazael the king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23; And YAHWEH was gracious to them, and pitied them, and turned toward them, for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was not willing to destroy them, nor to cast them out from His presence as yet.
24; And Hazael the king of Syria died, and his son Ben-Hadad reigned in his place.
25; And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities out of the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael that he had taken out of the hand of his father Jehoahaz in battle. Jehoash struck him three times, and he brought back the cities of Israel.
Chapter 14
1; In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz the king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah reigned.
2; He was a son of twenty five years when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
3; And he did right in the eyes of YAHWEH, but not like his father David; he did according to all that his father Joash did;
4; however, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and offered in the high places.
5; And it happened, when the kingdom was strong in his hand, he struck his servants, those who struck his father, the king.
6; But he did not cause to die the sons of those who struck him, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses that YAHWEH instructed, saying, The fathers are not to be caused to die for the sons, and the sons are not to be caused to die for the fathers, but each shall be caused to die for his own sin.
7; He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand, and captured the Rock by war, and called its name Joktheel to this day.
8; Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, the king of Israel, saying, Come, we shall look one another in the face.
9; And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah the king of Judah, saying, The thorn that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife; and a beast of the field in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn.
10; You have certainly stricken Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in it and stay in your house; and why should you stir yourself up to evil so that you may fall, you and Judah with you?
11; But Amaziah would not listen, and Jehoash the king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah the king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh of Judah.
12; And Judah was stricken before Israel, and they each fled to his tent.
13; And Jehoash the king of Israel caught Amaziah the king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, in Beth-Shemesh. And they came in to Jerusalem, and he broke through the wall of Jerusalem at the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.
14; And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of YAHWEH, and in the treasures of the king's house, and the sons of the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
15; And the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel?
16; And Jehoash lay with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam reigned in his place.
17; And Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the king of Israel.
18; And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
19; And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.
20; And they lifted him up on the horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21; And all the people of Judah took Azariah, and they made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
22; He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
23; In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Jehoash the king of Israel reigned in Samaria, forty one years.
24; And he did the evil in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin.
25; He restored the border of Israel from the entering in of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the Word of YAHWEH, the Elohim of Israel which He spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the prophet, the son of Amittai of Gathhepher.
26; For YAHWEH had seen the affliction of Israel to be very bitter; and none was bound, and none free, and there was no helper for Israel.
27; And YAHWEH had not spoken that He would blot the name of Israel from under the heavens, but saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28; And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, and his might with which he fought, and with which he recovered Damascus and Hamath of Judah for Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel?
29; And Jeroboam lay with his fathers, with the kings of Israel. And his son Zechariah reigned in his place.
Chapter 15
1; In the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam the king of Israel Azariah the son of Amaziah the king of Judah began to reign.
2; He was a son of sixteen years when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty two years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
3; And he did right in the eyes of YAHWEH, according to all that his father Amaziah did;
4; however, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
5; And YAHWEH touched the king, and he was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, and Jotham the son of the king was over the house, judging the people of the land.
6; And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
7; And Azariah lay with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And his son Jotham reigned in his place.
8; In the thirty eighth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel, in Samaria, six months.
9; And he did evil in the eyes of YAHWEH, as his fathers did; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
10; And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place.
11; And the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel.
12; This was the Word of YAHWEH that He spoke to Jehu, saying, Your son of the fourth generation shall sit to you on the throne of Israel; and it was so.
13; Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty ninth year of Uzziah the king of Judah, and he reigned a full month in Samaria.
14; And Menahem the son of Gadi from Tirzah went up and came into Samaria and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him, and reigned in his place.
15; And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy that he conspired, behold, they are written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel.
16; Then Menahem struck Tiphsah, and all who were in it, and its borders from Tirzah, for it did not open, and he struck it; he ripped up all its pregnant women.
17; In the thirty ninth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, ten years in Samaria.
18; And he did evil in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, all his days.
19; Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave a thousand talents of silver to Pul, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
20; And Menahem brought out the silver from Israel, on all the mighty men of wealth, to give to the king of Assyria, fifty shekels of silver for each one; and the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.
21; And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel?
22; And Menahem lay with his fathers. And his son Pekahiah reigned in his place.
23; In the fiftieth year of Azariah the king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem reigned over Israel two years in Samaria.
24; And he did evil in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
25; And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his general, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the high place of the house of the king, with Argob and Arieh, and fifty men of the sons of the Gileadites with him; and he killed him and reigned in his place.
26; And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel.
27; In the fifty second year of Azariah the king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel, twenty years in Samaria.
28; And he did evil in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
29; In the days of Pekah the king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, and Abel- Beth-Maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and removed them to Assyria.
30; And Hoshea the son of Elah conspired a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him, and killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
31; And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Israel.
32; In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, the king of Judah, began to reign.
33; He was a son of twenty five years when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.
34; And he did right in the eyes of YAHWEH; he did according to all that his father Uzziah did.
35; Only, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in high places; he built the Upper Gate of the house of YAHWEH.
36; And the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
37; In those days YAHWEH began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah.
38; And Jotham lay with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. And his son Ahaz reigned in his place.
Chapter 16
1; In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham the king of Judah began to reign.
2; Ahaz was a son of twenty years when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the eyes of YAHWEH his Elohim, like his father David.
3; But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and also he caused his son to pass through the fire, according to the idolatries of the nations, whom YAHWEH had cast out from before the sons of Israel.
4; And he sacrificed and offered incense in the high places, and on the heights, and under every green tree.
5; Then Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war. And they besieged Ahaz, but they were not able to fight.
6; At that time Rezin the king of Syria brought Elath back to Syria, and threw the Jews out of Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath and lived there to this day.
7; And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me.
8; And Ahaz took the silver and the gold which was found in the house of YAHWEH, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent to the king of Assyria a bribe.
9; And the king of Assyria listened to him. And the king of Assyria went up to Damascus and captured it, and removed it to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
10; And King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria at Damascus. And he saw the altar that was in Damascus. And King Ahaz sent the form of the altar to Urijah the priest, and its pattern, according to all its work.
11; And Urijah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah the priest did until King Ahaz came in from Damascus.
12; And the king came in from Damascus, and the king saw the altar; and the king drew near to the altar and offered on it;
13; and offered his burnt offering, and his food offering, and poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14; But as to the bronze altar that was before YAHWEH, he brought near from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of YAHWEH, and put it on the north side of his altar.
15; And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, On the great altar offer the burnt offering of the morning, and the evening food offering, and the king's burnt offering and his food offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their food offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.
16; And Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.
17; And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from them; and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen under it, and put it on a pavement of stones.
18; And the covered way that they had built in the house for the Sabbath, and the king's entry outside, he turned from the house of YAHWEH, because of the king of Assyria.
19; And the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah?
20; And Ahaz lay with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Chapter 17
1; In the twelfth year of Ahaz the king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah reigned in Samaria, nine years over Israel.
2; And he did evil in the eyes of YAHWEH, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3; Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came against him, and Hoshea was a servant to him, and paid him tribute.
4; And the king of Assyria found a conspiracy in Hoshea, in that he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt, and had not offered tribute up to the king of Assyria, as year by year. And the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in a prison house.
5; And the king of Assyria went up into all the land, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.
6; In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and removed Israel to Assyria, and made them live in Halah, and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7; And it was so because the sons of Israel had sinned against YAHWEH their Elohim, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and feared other gods,
8; and walked in the statutes of the nations that YAHWEH had expelled from the face of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they made.
9; And the sons of Israel secretly did the things which were not right against YAHWEH their Elohim, and built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city,
10; and set up for themselves pillars and Asherahs on every high hill, and under every green tree;
11; and burned incense there in all high places, like the nations that YAHWEH had removed from their face; and did evil things to provoke YAHWEH,
12; and served the idols, of which YAHWEH had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
13; And YAHWEH testified against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of all His prophets, and every seer, saying, Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My instructions, My statutes, according to all the Torah that I instructed your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.
14; And they did not listen, and hardened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not remain faithful to YAHWEH their Elohim.
15; And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He cut with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them, and went after the vain thing, and became vain, and after the nations that were around them, of whom YAHWEH had instructed them not to do like them.
16; And they forsook all the instructions of YAHWEH their Elohim and made for themselves cast images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and bowed to all the host of the heavens, and served Baal,
17; and caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire and divined divination, and used incantations, and sold themselves to do the evil in the eyes of YAHWEH, to provoke Him,
18; so that YAHWEH was very angry against Israel, and turned them away from His face; not one was left, only the tribe of Judah by itself.
19; Also Judah did not keep the commands of YAHWEH their Elohim, and they walked in the statutes of Israel that they had made.
20; And YAHWEH rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of the plunderers, until He had cast them out from His presence.
21; For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam lured Israel from following YAHWEH, and caused them to sin a great sin.
22; And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he did; they did not turn aside from them;
23; until YAHWEH turned away Israel from His face, as He spoke by the hand of all His servants the prophets; and Israel was exiled from off its land to Assyria to this day.
24; And the king of Assyria brought men in from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and made them live in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
25; And it happened at the beginning of their living there, they did not fear YAHWEH, and YAHWEH sent lions among them, and they were killing among them.
26; And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you have exiled and have made to live in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the Elohim of the land, and He has sent the lions into their midst; and, behold, they are killing them, since they do not know the custom of the Elohim of the land.
27; And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Cause one of the priests whom you removed from there to go there, and they shall go and live there; and he shall teach them the custom of the Elohim of the land.
28; And one of the priests whom they exiled from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he taught them how they should fear YAHWEH.
29; yet was making nation by nation their own gods, and putting them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, nation by nation in their cities where they lived.
30; And the men of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth; and the men of Cuth made Nergal; and the men of Hamath made Ashima;
31; and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their sons with fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the Elohims of Sepharvaim.
32; So it was that they feared YAHWEH, and made for themselves, of the lowest of them, priests of the high places and they sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33; They feared YAHWEH, and served their own gods, according to the custom of the nations from where they exiled them.
34; To this day they do according to the former custom; they do not fear YAHWEH, and do not do according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the Torah, and according to the commandment that YAHWEH instructed the sons of Jacob, on whom He set His name, Israel.
35; And YAHWEH made a covenant with them, and instructed them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;
36; but YAHWEH who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a stretched out arm, you shall fear Him, and you shall bow yourselves to Him, and you shall sacrifice to Him;
37; and the statutes, and the judgments, and the Torah, and the instructions that He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever, and you shall not fear other gods;
38; and the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods;
39; but you shall fear YAHWEH your Elohim, and He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
40; But they did not listen, but did according to their former custom.
41; And it happened, these nations feared YAHWEH, yet they served their graven images, both their sons and their sons' sons. As their fathers did, they are doing to this day.
Chapter 18
1; And it happened in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah the king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz the king of Judah began to reign.
2; He was a son of twenty five years when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty nine years; and the name of his mother was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3; And he did right in the eyes of YAHWEH, according to all that his father David did;
4; he took away the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and beat to bits the bronze serpent that Moses made and called it Nehushtan.
5; He trusted in YAHWEH the Elohim of Israel, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him;
6; and he clung to YAHWEH; he did not turn aside from following Him, and kept His instructions that YAHWEH instructed Moses.
7; And YAHWEH was with him. He acted prudently every place he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
8; He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the Watch Tower to the fortified city.
9; And it happened, in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (it was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah the king of Israel) Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10; And they captured it at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hezekiah Samaria was conquered;
11; and the king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12; because they did not listen to the voice of YAHWEH their Elohim, and transgressed His covenant, all that Moses the servant of YAHWEH instructed; yea, they did not listen nor obey them.
13; And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.
14; And Hezekiah the king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, I have offended, turn back from me; that which you put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria laid on Hezekiah the king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15; And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of YAHWEH, and in the treasures of the house of the king.
16; At that time Hezekiah cut off the doors of the Sanctuary of YAHWEH, and the pillars that Hezekiah the king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17; 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 heavy force, to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they went up and came in and stood by the conduit of the upper pool that was in the highway of the Fuller's Field.
18; 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.
19; And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Now say to Hezekiah, So says the great king, the king of Assyria, What is this hope in which you have trusted?
20; Do you say that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for war; now, on whom have you trusted that you have rebelled against me?
21; Now, behold, you have trusted for yourself on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it! So is Pharaoh the king of Egypt to all those who trust in him.
22; And when you say to me, We have trusted to YAHWEH our Elohim, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar you shall bow yourselves in Jerusalem?
23; And, now, I ask you, exchange pledges for yourself to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give to you two thousand horses if you are able to give for yourself riders on them.
24; And how will you turn back the face of one prefect of the least of the servants of my master, that you trust for yourself upon Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25; Now, have I come up against this place to destroy it without YAHWEH? YAHWEH said to me, Go up against this land, and you shall destroy it.
26; And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to the chief of the cup-bearers, Please speak Aramaic to your servants, for we understand; and do not speak with us in Jewish, in the ears of the people on the wall.
27; And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master, and to you, and not to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink the water of their feet with you?
28; And the chief of the cupbearers stood and called with a great voice in Jewish, and spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria;
29; So says the king, Do not let Hezekiah delude you, for he is not able to deliver you out of his hand;
30; and do not let Hezekiah make you trust to YAHWEH, saying, YAHWEH surely shall deliver us; and, This city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31; Do not listen to Hezekiah, for so says the king of Assyria, Make with me a peace treaty 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 well,
32; until I come; and I will take you 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 honey; and live, and do not die; and do not listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, YAHWEH shall deliver us.
33; Have the gods of the nations at all delivered each his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34; Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35; Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that YAHWEH should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
36; But the people kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the king was, saying, Do not answer him.
37; And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came in to Hezekiah, having torn their garments; and they told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.