He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel: The word order of the first part of this verse is more literally “In YHWH God of Israel he put his trust” (American Bible). The writer intends to emphasize the divine name by placing it first in the clause.

Since the pronoun He could possibly be understood as referring to Moses (verse 4), it will be wise in many languages to replace it with the proper name “Hezekiah” (so Good News Translation). But in those languages where the main character is referred to by a pronoun, Revised Standard Version will serve as an adequate model in this respect.

The Hebrew verb rendered trusted here is a keyword throughout this chapter. The general sense of words based on this Hebrew verb is “to feel secure” or “to feel unconcerned.” The same verb is translated “rest … confidence” in verse 19 and then “rely” later in the chapter (verses 20-22, 24 and 30).

So that renders the common Hebrew conjunction, which is translated by others as “and” (New American Bible) or is left untranslated (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Revised Standard Version unfortunately gives the impression that a stronger transition word is used in the original text.

There was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him; that is, there was no other king of Judah before or after Hezekiah who was so totally devoted to Yahweh as he was. Thus, of all the kings of Judah, the evaluation of Hezekiah is more positive than any other. See, however, the similar statement regarding Josiah in 2 Kgs 23.25.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .