After these deeds of integrity, etc. and planned to make a breach therein - Heb. לְבִקְעָם like לְבָקְעָם like (Amos 2: “For selling (מִכְרָם) [an innocent man] for money,” like (מָכְרָם) and adjacent to that, (ibid. 1:13): “Because they ripped up (בִּקְעָם) the pregnant women of Gilead,” and its meaning and examples of it are (Isa. 7:6): “and let us breach its walls (וְנַבְקְעֶנָה),” and (Gen. 22:3): “Then he split (וַיְבַקַּע) wood for the burnt-offering.”

and he reinforced the millo An example is (I Kings 11:27): “built the millo.”

and he made many swords - Heb. שֶׁלַח, weapons, similar to (above 23:10): “each one with his sword (שִׁלְחוֹ) in his hand”; (Neh. 4:17): “each man took his sword (שִׁלְחוֹ) to the water.”

In what do you trust It is written (I Kings 18:5): “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel,” and it is also written there: (verse 7) “and he rebelled against the king of Assyria.” Therefore, he asked, “In what do you trust” that you have rebelled against me?

stay in the siege in Jerusalem as it is written (here): “to die by famine and thirst.”

Did not he - Hezekiah - who trusts in his God, did he not transgress? Now even if He had the ability to help him, He would not help him, because he sinned against Him, for he removed His high places and His altars, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem: Before one altar you shall prostrate yourselves Now is it not preferable that the Judeans prostrate themselves before one altar and the Jerusalemites before one, or two and more? What does one altar avail such a large people? For they thought that all those high places that he had removed, as above (31:1): “and cut off the asherim, etc.” were built in the name of the God of Israel.

whom my fathers destroyed Pul, the king of Assyria, and Tiglath-Pilneser.

And he wrote letters to blaspheme the Lord, the God of Israel And in II Kings (19:14) and in Isaiah (37:14) it is written: “And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read it; he went up to the House of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread it out before the Lord.”

with a loud voice in Judean, etc. to frighten them and to terrify them Here he relates the matter in generalities, but in II Kings (19) and in Isaiah (37) it is thoroughly elaborated upon.

And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem The author of this Book complains about the villain Sennacherib, who blasphemed the living God.

as of the gods of the peoples of the land which are the handiwork of man, and they compared the God, our Maker, Who formed everything, to the gods of the peoples, who are their own handiwork, as is written above (v. 14): “Who is it among all the gods of, etc. that your God should be able to save you from my hand?”

And Hezekiah... prayed In II Kings (19:15–19) and in Isaiah (37:15–19) the prayer is delineated.

and some of his own issue as it is written (Isa. 37:38): “and his sons slew him with the sword.”

and he prayed to the Lord as is delineated in II Kings (20:3).

and he spoke to him What is the sign?

and he gave him a sign (ibid. verse 9ff.) “This is your sign, etc.” Everything is delineated there.

But...did not repay Him according to that which He had bestowed upon him Hezekiah did not repay the Holy One, blessed be He in accordance with that which He had bestowed upon him by healing him.

for his heart became haughty as it is written (ibid. 20:13): “and he showed them his entire treasure-house...and in all his kingdom.”

and there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this, and the author of this Book abridged it here because it is described in II Kings (20) and in Isaiah (39).

And Hezekiah became humbled when his heart was haughty as it is written there: “And Hezekiah said to Isaiah: [The word of the Lord that you have spoken is] good.” And when he became humble, the wrath did not come upon them in his days.

and for all precious vessels he made various kinds of treasure-houses.

And storehouses for the increase Regarding storehouses of increase [of grain] it is appropriate to use the term מִסְכְּנוֹת, storehouses, in all places, like (Exod. 1:11): “store cities (עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת) for Pharaoh,” and so, (above 8:4): “And he built Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities (עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת) that he built in Hamath,” and perforce, they were for grain, because in the desert he did not have to store gold and silver.

and stalls for all kinds of beasts - Heb. וְאֻרָוֹת, large stables.

and he led them straight down on the west He led them along a straight way down on the west to the City of David.

And so, because of the emissaries of Heb. בִּמְלִיצֵי, messengers, similar to (Gen. 42:23): “for the interpreter (הַמֵּלִיץ) was between them” because the messenger is the liaison between the sender and the one to whom he is sent. This is related to the verse that states: “and Hezekiah prospered in all his work,” and after all this good, which the Holy One, blessed be He, had bestowed on him, God forsook him to test him, to know what was in his heart through the emissaries of the officers of Babylon, who were sent to him.

to seek the sign that was in the land He did not stand up to the test, and he showed them the weakness of his whole house. The verse is to be explained as if the phrases are reversed.

in the best - Heb. בְּמַעֲלֵה, in the best, as is explained at the end of the first chapter of Baba Kamma (16b).