2 Kings 16–20

16^*In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. ^2aTwenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father. ³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, ^band made his son to pass through the fire, ^caccording to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. ⁴And ^dhe sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and ^eon the hills, and under every green tree. ^5*fThen Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but ^gcould not overcome him. ⁶At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from ^†Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. ^7hSo Ahaz sent messengers to ^†Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. ^8hAnd Ahaz ⁱtook the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a ^jpresent to the king of Assyria. ⁹And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against ^†Damascus, and ^||took it, and carried the people of it captive to ^kKir, and slew Rezin.

¹⁰And king Ahaz went to ^†Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to ^kkUrijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. ¹¹And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus. ¹²And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and ^lthe king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. ¹³And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of ^†his peace offerings, upon the altar. ¹⁴And he brought also ^mthe brasen altar, which was before the Lord, from ⁿthe forefront of the house, from between ^othe altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of ^othe altar. ¹⁵And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon ^othe great altar burn ^pthe morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and ^mthe brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by. ¹⁶Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. ^17*And king Ahaz ^qcut off ^rthe borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down ^sthe sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. ¹⁸And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.

^19tNow the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ^20*And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried ^uwith his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

17^*In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began ^||Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. ³Against him came up ^aShalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and ^†gave him ^||presents. ^4*And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no ^||present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. ^5*Then ^bthe king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. ^6cIn the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and ^dcarried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them ^ein Halah and in Habor by the river of ^efGozan, and in the cities of the ^gMedes.

⁷For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ⁱwhich had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸And walked in the statutes ^kof the heathen, ^lwhom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and ^lof the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, ^mfrom the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. ¹⁰ⁿAnd they set them up ^†images and ^ogroves in every high hill, and under every green tree: ¹¹And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things ^pto provoke the Lord to anger: ¹²For they served ^qidols, ^rwhereof the Lord had said unto them, ^sYe shall not do this thing. ¹³Yet the Lord ^ttestified against Israel, and against Judah, ^†by all the prophets, and by all ^uthe seers, saying, ^wTurn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you ^†by my servants the prophets. ¹⁴Notwithstanding they would not hear, but ^xhardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed ^yvanity, and ^zbecame vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord ^ahad charged them, that they should not do like them. ¹⁶And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even ^btwo calves, and made ^ca grove, and worshipped ^dall the host of heaven, and served ^eBaal. ¹⁷And ^fthey caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and ^gused divination and ^henchantments, and ⁱsold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, ^kto provoke him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah ^lonly. ¹⁹Also ^mJudah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰And the Lord ⁿrejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and ^odelivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. ²¹For ^phe rent Israel from the house of David; and ^qthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam ^rdrave Israel from following the Lord, and ^smade them sin a great sin. ²²For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; ²³Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, ^tas he had said by all his servants the prophets. ^uSo was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

^24x*And the king of Assyria brought men from ^yBabylon, and from Cuthah, and from ^||Ava, and from ^zHamath, and from ^aSepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. ²⁵And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. ²⁶Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. ²⁸Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in ^bBeth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. ²⁹Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in ^cthe houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. ³⁰And the men of ^dBabylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites ^eburnt their children in fire to ^fAdrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²So they feared the Lord, and ^gmade unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in ^cthe houses of the high places. ^33hThey feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations ^||whom they carried away from thence. ³⁴Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, ⁱwhom he named Israel; ³⁵With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, ^kYe shall not fear other gods, nor ^lbow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: ³⁶But the Lord, ^mwho brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and ⁿa stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. ³⁷And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ^oye shall observe to do for evermore; and ^kye shall not fear other gods. ³⁸And the covenant that I have made with you ^pye shall not…