2 Kings 18 - The Scriptures 1998

¹ And it came to be in the third year of Hoshĕ

² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. And his mother’s name was Aḇ

³ And he did what was right in the eyes of יהוה, according to all that his father Dawiḏ

⁴ He took away the high places and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashĕ

⁵ He put his trust in יהוה  Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

⁶ and he clung to יהוה. He did not turn away from following Him, but guarded His commands, which יהוה  had commanded Mosheh.

⁷ And יהוה  was with him – wherever he went he acted wisely. And he rebelled against the sovereign of Ashshur and did not serve him.

⁸ He smote the Philistines, as far as Azzah and its borders – from watchtower unto the walled city.

⁹ And it came to be in the fourth year of Sovereign Ḥ

¹⁰ and they captured it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Ḥ

¹¹ And the sovereign of Ashshur exiled Yisra’ĕ

¹² because they did not obey the voice of יהוה  their Elohim, but transgressed His covenant – all that Mosheh the servant of יהוה  had commanded. And they did not obey nor do them.

¹³ And in the fourteenth year of Sovereign Ḥ

¹⁴ And Ḥ

¹⁵ And Ḥ

¹⁶ At that time Ḥ

¹⁷ And the sovereign of Ashshur sent the Tartan, and the Raḇ

¹⁸ And they called to the sovereign. And Elyaqim son of Ḥ

¹⁹ And the Raḇ

²⁰ “You have spoken of having counsel and strength for battle, but they are only words of the lips! And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

²¹ “Now look! You have put your trust in the staff of this crushed reed, Mitsrayim, on which if a man leans, it shall go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim to all who trust in him.

²² “But when you say to me, ‘We trust in יהוה  our Elohim,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Ḥ

²³ “And now, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the sovereign of Ashshur, then I give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put riders on them!

²⁴ “And how do you turn back the face of one commander of the least of my master’s servants, and trust in Mitsrayim for chariots and horsemen?

²⁵ “Have I now come up without יהוה  against this place to destroy it? יהוה  said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and you shall destroy it.’ ”

²⁶ Then said Elyaqim son of Ḥ

²⁷ And the Raḇ

²⁸ And the Raḇ

²⁹ “Thus said the sovereign, ‘Do not let Ḥ

³⁰ and do not let Ḥ

³¹ “Do not listen to Ḥ

³² until I come. Then I shall 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 honey, and live, and not die. But do not listen to Ḥ

³³ ‘Has any of the mighty ones of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur?

³⁴ ‘Where are the mighty ones of Ḥ

³⁵ ‘Who among all the mighty ones of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that יהוה  should deliver Yerushalayim from my hand?’ ”

³⁶ But the people were silent and did not answer him a word, for the command of the sovereign was, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷ And Elyaqim son of Ḥ