2 Kings 17–18

CHAPTER 17

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

¹In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^aHoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned nine years.

²And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

^3aShalmaneser king of Assyria went up ^bagainst him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.

⁴But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute 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.

⁵Then the king of Assyria went up against the whole land and he went up to ^aSamaria and besieged it three years.

Israel Exiled to Assyria

⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea, ^athe king of Assyria captured Samaria and ^btook Israel away into exile to Assyria, and ^csettled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of ^dGozan, and ^ein the cities of the Medes.

Israel Rejects Yahweh

⁷Now ^athis happened because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God—^bwho had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt—^cand they had ¹feared other gods

⁸and ^awalked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes ^bof the kings of Israel which they had made.

⁹And the sons of Israel ¹did things secretly which were not right against Yahweh their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from ^awatchtower to fortified city.

^10aAnd they set for themselves sacred pillars and ^1bAsherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

¹¹and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which Yahweh had taken away into exile before them; and they did evil things provoking Yahweh to anger.

¹²And they served idols, ^aconcerning which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

¹³Yet ^aYahweh warned Israel and Judah ^bby the hand of all His prophets and ^cevery seer, saying, “^dTurn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My slaves the prophets.”

¹⁴However, they did not listen, but ^astiffened their neck ¹like their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh their God.

^15aThey also rejected His statutes and ^bHis covenant which He cut with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And ^cthey followed vanity and ^dbecame vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which ^eYahweh had commanded them not to do like them.

¹⁶And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God and made for themselves molten images, even ^atwo calves, and ^bmade an ¹Asherah and ^cworshiped all the host of heaven and ^dserved Baal.

¹⁷Then ^athey made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and ^bpracticed divination and omens, and ^csold themselves to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger.

¹⁸So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and ^acaused them to depart from His ¹presence; ^bnone was left except the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹Also ^aJudah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but ^bwalked in the statutes ¹which Israel had made.

²⁰So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and ^agave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them ¹from His presence.

²¹When ^aHe had torn Israel from the house of David, ^bthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then ^cJeroboam drove Israel away from following Yahweh and made them sin a great sin.

²²And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them

^23auntil Yahweh caused Israel to depart from His presence, ^bas He spoke through all His slaves the prophets. ^cSo Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Exiled Men in the Cities of Samaria

^24aAnd the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from ^1bAvva and from ^cHamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

²⁵Now it happened at the beginning of their settlement there, that they ^adid not fear Yahweh; therefore Yahweh sent lions among them which were killing them.

²⁶So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have taken away into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are putting them to death because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”

²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you took away into ¹exile and let ²him go and live there; and let him instruct them the custom of the god of the land.”

²⁸So one of the priests whom they had taken away into exile from Samaria came and settled at Bethel, and instructed them how they should fear Yahweh.

²⁹But each nation was still making gods of its own and put them ^ain the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, each nation in their cities in which they lived.

^30aAnd the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

³¹and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and ^athe Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to ^bAdrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the ^cSepharvaim.

^32aThey were also fearing Yahweh and ^1bappointed from among all of themselves priests of the high places, and they were acting for them in the houses of the high places.

³³They were fearing Yahweh and serving their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been taken away into exile.

³⁴To this day they are acting according to the earlier customs: they are not fearing Yahweh; they are not acting according to their statutes or their judgments or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, ^awhom He named Israel;

³⁵with whom Yahweh cut a covenant and commanded them, saying, “^aYou shall not fear other gods, nor ^bworship them nor ^cserve them nor sacrifice to them.

³⁶“But Yahweh, ^awho brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with ^ban outstretched arm, ^cHim you shall fear, and to Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall sacrifice.

³⁷“And the statutes and the judgments and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^ayou shall be careful to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.

³⁸“And the covenant that I have cut with you, ^ayou shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.

³⁹“But Yahweh your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”

⁴⁰However, they did not listen, but they were acting according to their earlier custom.

^41aSo while these nations were fearing Yahweh, they also were serving their graven images; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers acted, so they are acting this way to this day.

CHAPTER 18

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹Now it happened ^ain the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that ^bHezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

²He was ^atwenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

^3aAnd he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.

^4aHe took away the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the ¹Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^bthe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and it was called ²Nehushtan.

^5aHe trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; ^bso that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

⁶So he ^aclung to Yahweh; he did not turn away from following Him, but kept His commandments, which Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Prospers

^7aAnd Yahweh was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And ^bhe rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

^8aHe struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from ^bwatchtower to fortified city.

⁹Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, ^aShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.

¹⁰And at the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ^athe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured.

¹¹Then the king of Assyria took Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in ^aHalah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

¹²because they ^adid not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, but trespassed against His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

Sennacherib Comes Up Against Judah

^13aNow in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

¹⁴Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “^aI have done wrong. Turn away from me; whatever penalty you give to me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria set a penalty on Hezekiah king of Judah ¹three hundred talents of silver and ²thirty talents of gold.

^15aThus Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Yahweh and from the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent ^aTartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a heavy military force to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^bconduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the ¹fuller’s field.

¹⁸Then they…