2 Kings 18 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 18
Hezekiah and the Assyrian Challenge
Verse 18:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Ela, king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The accession synchronism agrees.
Verse 18:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abou daughter of Zechariah.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The age, reign, city, and corresponding maternal name agree.
Verse 18:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:3 He did what was right in YHWH's eyes, in accordance with everything his father David had done.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:3 He did what was right in the Lord's eyes, in accordance with everything his father David had done.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both compare Hezekiah favorably with David.
Verse 18:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:4 He removed the high places, shattered the pillars, cut down the Asherah, and crushed the bronze serpent Moses had made, because until those days the Israelites burned offerings to it. He called it Nehushtan.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:4 He removed the high places, shattered all the pillars, and destroyed the groves and the bronze serpent Moses had made, because until those days the Israelites burned incense to it. He called it Neesthan.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew distinguishes cutting one Asherah and crushing the serpent; Greek uses destruction for plural groves and serpent, adding ‘all’ to the pillars. Both reject the serpent's cultic use.
Verse 18:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:5 He trusted YHWH, Israel's God. Among all Judah's kings there was none like him after him, nor among those before him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:5 He hoped in the Lord, Israel's God. Among Judah's kings there was none like him after him, nor among those before him.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew trust corresponds to Greek hope; both give the same exceptional royal assessment.
Verse 18:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:6 He clung to YHWH, did not turn away from following Him, and kept His commandments which YHWH commanded Moses.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:6 He clung to the Lord, did not turn away from following Him, and kept His commandments which He commanded Moses.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both connect fidelity with Mosaic commandments; Greek leaves the repeated divine subject pronominal.
Verse 18:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:7 YHWH was with him; wherever he went out, he acted successfully. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:7 The Lord was with him; in everything he did, he acted with understanding. He broke with the king of the Assyrians and did not serve him.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew's going out and successful action correspond to Greek's deeds and understanding. Both report rejection of Assyrian service.
Verse 18:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:8 He struck the foreigners as far as Gaza and its boundary, from watchtower to fortified city.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names Philistines; Greek uses ἀλλόφυλοι, foreigners. Both specify Gaza and its territory.
Verse 18:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:9 In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up against Samaria and besieged it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:9 In King Hezekiah's fourth year—which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Ela, king of Israel—Salamanassar king of the Assyrians went up against Samaria and besieged it.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The two regnal dates and siege agree.
Verse 18:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:10 They captured it at the end of three years. In Hezekiah's sixth year, which was Hoshea king of Israel's ninth year, Samaria was captured.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:10 He captured it at the end of three years, in Hezekiah's sixth year—which was Hoshea king of Israel's ninth year—and Samaria was captured.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew's initial captors are plural; Greek's captor is singular. All durations and synchronisms agree.
Verse 18:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:11 The king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of Media.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:11 The king of the Assyrians deported Samaria to the Assyrians and placed them in Alae, on the Abor, the river of Gozan, and in Ore of the Medes.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew's deported population is Israel; Greek names Samaria. Media's cities correspond to the difficult Greek place-form Ore, also present at seventeen six.
Verse 18:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:12 This was because they did not listen to the voice of YHWH their God but transgressed His covenant, everything Moses YHWH's servant commanded. They neither listened nor acted.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:12 This was because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed His covenant, everything Moses the Lord's servant commanded. They neither listened nor acted.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both explain exile as disobedience to the covenant and Mosaic command.
Verse 18:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:13 In King Hezekiah's fourteenth year, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all Judah's fortified towns and captured them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:13 In King Hezekiah's fourteenth year, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians went up against Judah's fortified cities and captured them.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew explicitly has ‘all’; the campaign and date agree.
Verse 18:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish: ‘I have sinned. Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me, I will bear.’ The king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians at Lachish: ‘I have sinned. Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me, I will bear.’ The king of the Assyrians imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek explicitly names messengers; both retain the confession and identical silver and gold assessments.
Verse 18:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:15 Hezekiah gave all the silver found in YHWH's house and in the treasuries of the king's house.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:15 Hezekiah gave all the silver found in the Lord's house and in the treasuries of the king's house.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both report payment from temple and royal reserves.
Verse 18:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of YHWH's sanctuary and the supports which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:16 At that time Hezekiah cut apart the doors of the Lord's sanctuary and the fixed supports which Hezekiah king of Judah had gilded, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek explicitly says gilded; Hebrew says overlaid without naming the material here. The exact extent of stripping or dismantling is not reconstructed.
Verse 18:17 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:17 The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great force. They went up and came to Jerusalem; they went up, came, and stood at the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the Fuller's Field.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:17 The king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan, Raphis, and Rhapsakes from Lachish to King Hezekiah against Jerusalem with a great force. They went up, came to Jerusalem, and stood at the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road of the Fuller's Field.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek lacks the second ‘went up and came.’ The three Assyrian designations have different displayed forms; the location agrees.
Verse 18:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:18 They called to the king. Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:18 They called to Hezekiah. Eliakim son of Chelkias the steward, Somnas the scribe, and Joash son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew Joah is Greek Joash; Greek names Hezekiah and has singular ‘to him’ where Hebrew has ‘to them.’
Verse 18:19 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:19 The Rab-shakeh said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this confidence in which you trust?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:19 Rhapsakes said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence in which you trust?
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both begin the same challenge to Hezekiah's grounds for confidence.
Verse 18:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:20 You say—mere words of lips!—“Counsel and might for war.” Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:20 You said—only words of lips!—“Counsel and strength for war.” Now then, in whom do you trust, that you have broken with me?
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both dismiss the claimed military counsel and strength as talk and challenge the rebellion's support.
Verse 18:21 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:21 Now look, you trust this crushed reed of a staff, Egypt. If a man leans on it, it enters his palm and pierces it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:21 Now look, you have put your trust in this broken reed staff, Egypt. If a man supports himself on it, it enters his hand and pierces it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust him.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both use the injuring reed as an image of unreliable Egyptian support.
Verse 18:22 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:22 If you say to me, “We trust YHWH our God,” is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “Before this altar you shall bow down in Jerusalem”?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:22 Since you said to me, “We trust the Lord God,” is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “Before this altar you shall bow down in Jerusalem”?
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew addresses a plural prospective reply and says ‘our God’; Greek has a singular past statement and ‘Lord God.’ The speaker's hostile interpretation of reform is preserved as his claim.
Verse 18:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:23 Now make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can provide riders for them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:23 Now join yourselves to my master, the king of the Assyrians. I will give you two thousand horses if you can provide riders for them.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew הִתְעָרֶב is construed as a wager or pledge; Greek μίχθητε as joining or mixing. The two thousand horses and rider challenge agree.
Verse 18:24 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:24 How can you turn back the face of one governor, one of my master's least servants? Yet you trust Egypt for chariots and horsemen!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:24 How can you turn back the face of one district governor, one of my master's least servants? Yet you hope in Egypt for chariots and horsemen!
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both taunt Judah's military weakness and Egyptian reliance.
Verse 18:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:25 Now have I come up without YHWH against this place to destroy it? YHWH said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:25 Now have we come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has ‘I have come’; Greek ‘we have come.’ Both attribute divine authorization to the Assyrian speaker's claim, without narrator endorsement.
Verse 18:26 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebnah, and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, ‘Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in Judean within the hearing of the people on the wall.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:26 Eliakim son of Chelkias, Somnas, and Joash said to Rhapsakes, ‘Please speak to your servants in Syrian, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in Judean. Why are you speaking within the hearing of the people on the wall?’
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek turns the final audience restriction into an added explicit question. Aramaic/Syrian are the corresponding language designations here.
Verse 18:27 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:27 The Rab-shakeh said to them, ‘Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you? Was it not to the men sitting on the wall, who are to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:27 Rhapsakes said to them, ‘Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you? Was it not to the men sitting on the wall, who are to eat their own dung and drink their own urine together with you?’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both explicitly threaten the siege's degrading hunger and thirst; the bodily terms are retained.
Verse 18:28 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:28 The Rab-shakeh stood and called out loudly in Judean: ‘Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:28 Rhapsakes stood and cried out loudly in Judean: ‘Hear the words of the great king of the Assyrians!
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both move to a public Judean-language proclamation.
Verse 18:29 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:29 Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot rescue you from his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:29 Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah lift you up with words, for he cannot rescue you from my hand.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has deception and third-person ‘his hand’; Greek has verbal encouragement and first-person ‘my hand.’
Verse 18:30 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust YHWH by saying, “YHWH will surely rescue us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:30 Do not let Hezekiah make you hope in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely rescue us; this city will certainly not be handed into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both attack confidence in the city's divine protection.
Verse 18:31 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: Make a blessing with me and come out to me. Each of you may eat from his vine and fig tree and drink water from his cistern,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of the Assyrians: Make a blessing with me and come out to me. Each man shall drink from his vine, eat from his fig tree, and drink water from his cistern,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Both preserve the unusual agreement formula ‘make a blessing.’ Hebrew has eating from the vine; Greek has drinking from it, a distinct metonymy.
Verse 18:32 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:32 until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil-bearing olives and honey. Live, and do not die! Do not listen to Hezekiah when he entices you, saying, “YHWH will rescue us.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:32 until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain, wine, bread, and vineyards, a land of oil-bearing olives and honey. You will live and certainly not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah, because he deceives you, saying, “The Lord will rescue us.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew commands life and calls Hezekiah's speech enticement; Greek predicts life and calls it deception. Both promise an abundant destination for removal.
Verse 18:33 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:33 Have the gods of the nations ever rescued, each his own land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:33 Have the gods of the nations ever rescued, each his own country, from the hand of the king of the Assyrians?
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both introduce the same challenge from defeated nations.
Verse 18:34 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:34 Where is the god of Aimath and Arphad? Where is the god of Seppharouain? And have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek omits Hena and Ivvah and has singular ‘god’ in each question, against Hebrew's plural wording.
Verse 18:35 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued his land from my hand, that YHWH should rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my hand, that the Lord should rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both culminate in the same comparison challenging the Lord's ability to save Jerusalem.
Verse 18:36 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:36 The people kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:36 They kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew explicitly names the people; Greek leaves the silent group implicit.
Verse 18:37 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
18:37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn garments and reported the Rab-shakeh's words to him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
18:37 Eliakim son of Chelkias the steward, Somnas the scribe, and Joash son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn garments and reported Rhapsakes's words to him.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Joah/Joash remains the substantive displayed name difference; the torn garments and report agree.