II Kings 18 Hezekiah Reestablishes the Worship of the Lord

 II Kings 18

Hezekiah Reestablishes the Worship of the Lord

1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 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 Zechariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

4 He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until that day the children of Israel had burned incense to it; and they called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

6 For he cleaved to the Lord, and did not turn aside from following Him, and kept the commandments which the Lord had given to Moses.

7 So the Lord was with him; wherever he went out he behaved himself wisely; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him.

8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza, and its borders, from the watchtower to the fortified city.

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (9 which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel), that Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 And they took it at the end of three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, when they took Samaria.

 11 And the king of Assyria carried Israel away into Assyria, and brought them to Halah, and to Habor, by the river of Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes: 

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant: and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded they neither hearkened unto, nor did.