2 Kings 17–18

King Hoshea of Israel

17In the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for nine years. ²He sinned against the Lord, but not as much as the kings who had ruled Israel before him. ³Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria made war against him; Hoshea surrendered to Shalmaneser and paid him tribute every year. ⁴But one year Hoshea sent messengers to So, king of Egypt,^k asking for his help, and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learnt of this, he had Hoshea arrested and put in prison.

The Fall of Samaria

⁵Then Shalmaneser invaded Israel and besieged Samaria. In the third year of the siege, ⁶which was the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the Assyrian emperor^l captured Samaria, took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners, and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the River Habor in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

⁷Samaria fell because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the king of Egypt and had led them out of Egypt. They worshipped other gods, ⁸followed the customs of the people whom the Lord had driven out as his people advanced, and adopted customs introduced by the kings of Israel.^{m 9}The Israelites didⁿ things that the Lord their God disapproved of. They built pagan places of worship in all their towns, from the smallest village to the largest city. ^10*On all the hills and under every shady tree they put up stone pillars and images of the goddess Asherah, ¹¹and they burnt incense on all the pagan altars, following the practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land. They aroused the Lord’s anger with all their wicked deeds ¹²and disobeyed the Lord’s command not to worship idols.

¹³The Lord had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: “Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴But they would not obey; they were stubborn like their ancestors, who had not trusted in the Lord their God. ¹⁵They refused to obey his instructions, they did not keep the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they disregarded his warnings. They worshipped worthless idols and became worthless themselves, and they followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them. ^16*They broke all the laws of the Lord their God and made two metal bull calves to worship; they also made an image of the goddess Asherah, worshipped the stars, and served the god Baal. ^17*They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortune tellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord’s sight, and so aroused his anger. ¹⁸The Lord was angry with the Israelites and banished them from his sight, leaving only the kingdom of Judah.

¹⁹But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the Lord their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel. ²⁰The Lord rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.

²¹After the Lord had separated Israel from Judah, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam made them abandon the Lord and led them into terrible sins. ²²They followed Jeroboam and continued to practice all the sins he had committed, ²³until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live.

The Assyrians Settle in Israel

²⁴The emperor of Assyria took people from the cities of Babylon, Cuth, Ivvah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria,^o in place of the exiled Israelites. They took possession of these cities and lived there. ²⁵When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them. ²⁶The emperor of Assyria was told that the people he had settled in the cities of Samaria did not know the law of the god of that land, and so the god had sent lions, which were killing them. ²⁷So the emperor commanded: “Send back one of the priests we brought as prisoners; make him^p go back and live there, in order to teach the people the law of the god of that land.” ²⁸So an Israelite priest who had been deported from Samaria went and lived in Bethel, where he taught the people how to worship the Lord.

²⁹But the people who settled in Samaria continued to make their own idols, and they placed them in the shrines that the Israelites had built. Each different group made idols in the cities they were living in: ³⁰The people of Babylon made idols of the god Succoth Benoth; the people of Cuth, idols of Nergal; the people of Hamath, idols of Ashima; ³¹the people of Ivvah, idols of Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim sacrificed their children as burnt offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. ³²These people also worshipped the Lord and chose from among their own number all sorts of people to serve as priests at the pagan places of worship and to offer sacrifices for them there. ³³So they worshipped the Lord, but they also worshipped their own gods according to the customs of the countries from which they had come.

^34*They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the Lord nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. ^35*The Lord had made a covenant with them and had ordered them: “Do not worship other gods; do not bow down to them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. ^36*You shall obey me, the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great power and strength; you are to bow down to me and offer sacrifices to me. ³⁷You shall always obey the laws and commands that I wrote for you. You shall not obey other gods, ³⁸and you shall not forget the covenant I made with you. ³⁹You shall obey me, the Lord your God, and I will rescue you from your enemies.” ⁴⁰But those people would not listen, and they continued to follow their old customs.

⁴¹So those people worshipped the Lord, but they also worshipped their idols; and to this day their descendants continue to do the same.

King Hezekiah of Judah

18In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah as king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah ²at the age of 25, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ³Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord. ^4*He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burnt incense in its honour. ⁵Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time. ⁶He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses. ⁷So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him. ⁸He defeated the Philistines, and raided their settlements, from the smallest village to the largest city, including Gaza and its surrounding territory.

⁹In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign—which was the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel—Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria. ¹⁰In the third year of the siege, Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, and the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign. ¹¹The Assyrian emperor^q took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the River Habor in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

¹²Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem

¹³In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them. ¹⁴Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: “I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand.” The emperor’s answer was that Hezekiah should send him 10,000 kilogrammes of silver and a thousand kilogrammes of gold. ¹⁵Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury; ¹⁶he also stripped the gold from the temple doors and the gold with which he himself had covered the doorposts, and he sent it all to Sennacherib. ¹⁷The Assyrian emperor sent a large army from Lachish to attack Hezekiah at Jerusalem; it was commanded by his three highest officials. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they occupied the road where the clothmakers work, by the ditch that brings water from the upper pond. ¹⁸Then they sent for King Hezekiah, and three of his officials went out to meet them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace; Shebna, the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, who was in charge of the records. ¹⁹One of the Assyrian officials told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident. ²⁰He demanded, “Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria? ²¹You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick—it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him.”

²²The Assyrian official went on, “Or will you tell me that you are…