Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Talmud for II Kings 20:3

אָנָּ֣ה יְהוָ֗ה זְכָר־נָ֞א אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֧ר הִתְהַלַּ֣כְתִּי לְפָנֶ֗יךָ בֶּֽאֱמֶת֙ וּבְלֵבָ֣ב שָׁלֵ֔ם וְהַטּ֥וֹב בְּעֵינֶ֖יךָ עָשִׂ֑יתִי וַיֵּ֥בְךְּ חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּ בְּכִ֥י גָדֽוֹל׃ (ס)

’Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight.’ And Hezekiah wept sore.

Avot D'Rabbi Natan

King Hezekiah decided four things, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God. He hid the Book of Healing, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God. He broke apart the copper snake, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God [as it says in II Kings 18:4, “Until those days, the children of Israel had been burning incense to it, and it was called Nekhushatan (‘the snake god’)”]. He removed the shrines and altars, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God, as it says (II Chronicles 32:12), “Hezekiah removed His shrines and His altars and spoke to Judah and Jerusalem, and said: Will you bow down before one altar, and burn incense upon it?” He stopped up the waters of Gihon, and his decision was in accordance with the will of the Omnipresent God, as it says (II Chronicles 32:30), “Hezekiah stopped up the spring of the waters of [upper] Gihon, leading it downward, west of the City of David. And Hezekiah was successful in all that he did.”
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