2 Kings 16–20

Ahaz Becomes King of Judah

16Ahaz began to rule as king over Judah. It was in the 17th year of the rule of Pekah, the son of Remaliah. Ahaz was the son of Jotham. ²Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 16 years.

Ahaz didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He didn’t do what King David had done. ³He followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire to another god. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. He had driven out those nations to make room for the people of Israel. ⁴Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He also did it on the tops of hills and under every green tree.

⁵Rezin and Pekah marched up to Jerusalem and surrounded it. Rezin was king of Aram. Pekah, the son of Remaliah, was king of Israel. They attacked Ahaz. But they couldn’t overpower him. ⁶At that time Rezin, the king of Aram, got back Elath for Aram. He drove out the people of Judah. Then the people of Edom moved into Elath. And they still live there to this very day.

⁷Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser. He was king of Assyria. The message of Ahaz said, “I am your servant. You are my master. Come up and save me from the powerful hands of the kings of Aram and Israel. They are attacking me.”

⁸Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the Lord’s temple. He also took the silver and gold that were among the treasures in the royal palace. He sent all of it as a gift to the king of Assyria.

⁹So the king of Assyria did what Ahaz asked him to do. He attacked the city of Damascus and captured it. He sent its people away to Kir. And he put Rezin to death.

¹⁰Then King Ahaz went to Damascus. He went there to see Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar in Damascus. He sent a drawing of it to the priest Uriah. He also sent him plans for building it.

¹¹So the priest Uriah built an altar. He followed all of the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before Ahaz returned.

¹²The king came back from Damascus. When he saw the altar, he approached it. Then he offered sacrifices on it. ¹³He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering. He poured out his drink offering. And he sprinkled blood from his friendship offerings on the altar.

¹⁴The bronze altar for burnt offerings stood in front of the Lord. It was between the new altar and the Lord’s temple. Ahaz took it away from the front of the temple. He put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵Then King Ahaz gave orders to the priest Uriah. He said, “Offer sacrifices on the large new altar. Offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering. Offer my burnt offering and my grain offering. Offer the burnt offering of all of the people of the land. Offer their grain offering and their drink offering. Sprinkle on the altar all of the blood from the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to look for advice and direction.”

¹⁶The priest Uriah did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷Ahaz took away the sides of the bronze stands. He removed the bowls from the stands. He removed the huge bowl from the bronze bulls it stood on. He placed the bowl on a stone base. ¹⁸He took away the covered area that had been used on the Sabbath day. It had been built at the Lord’s temple. He removed the royal entrance that was outside the temple. Ahaz did all of that to honor the king of Assyria.

¹⁹The other events of the rule of Ahaz are written down. Everything he did is written down. All of those things are written in the official records of the kings of Judah.

²⁰Ahaz joined the members of his family who had already died. His body was buried in the family tomb in the City of David. His son Hezekiah became the next king after him.

Hoshea Becomes the Last King of Israel

17Hoshea became king of Israel in Samaria. It was in the 12th year that Ahaz was king of Judah. Hoshea ruled for nine years. He was the son of Elah.

²Hoshea did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. But he wasn’t as evil as the kings of Israel who ruled before him.

³Shalmaneser came up to attack Hoshea. Shalmaneser was king of Assyria. He had been Hoshea’s master. He had forced Hoshea to bring him gifts. ⁴But the king of Assyria found out that Hoshea had turned against him. Hoshea had sent messengers to So, the king of Egypt. Hoshea didn’t send gifts to the king of Assyria anymore. He had been sending them every year. So Shalmaneser grabbed hold of him and put him in prison.

⁵The king of Assyria marched into the whole land of Israel. He marched to Samaria and surrounded it for three years. From time to time he attacked it. ⁶Finally, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. It was in the ninth year of Hoshea. The king of Assyria took the people of Israel away from their own land. He sent them off to Assyria. He settled some of them in Halah. He settled others in Gozan on the Habor River. And he settled still others in the towns of the Medes.

Israel Is Forced to Go Away to Assyria

⁷All of that took place because the people of Israel had committed sins against the Lord their God. He had brought them up out of Egypt. He had brought them out from under the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But they worshiped other gods.

⁸The Lord had driven out other nations to make room for them. But they followed the evil practices of those nations. They also followed the practices that the kings of Israel had started. ⁹The people of Israel did things against the Lord their God in secret. What they did wasn’t right. They built high places for worship in all of their towns. They built them at lookout towers. They also built them at cities that had high walls around them. ¹⁰They set up sacred stones. And they set up poles that were used to worship the goddess Asherah. They did that on every high hill and under every green tree.

¹¹The Lord had driven out nations to make room for Israel. But the people of Israel burned incense at every high place, just as those nations had done. The Israelites did evil things that made the Lord very angry. ¹²They worshiped statues of gods. They did it even though the Lord had said, “Do not do that.”

¹³The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all of his prophets and seers. He said, “Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commands and rules. Obey every part of my Law. I commanded your people who lived long ago to obey it. And I gave it to you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴But the people wouldn’t listen. They were as stubborn as their people of long ago had been. Those people didn’t trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵They refused to obey his rules. They broke the covenant he had made with them. They didn’t pay any attention to the warnings he had given them. They worshiped worthless statues of gods. Then they themselves became worthless. They followed the example of the nations that were around them. They did it even though the Lord had ordered them not to. He had said, “Do not do as they do.” They did the very things the Lord had told them not to do.

¹⁶They turned away from all of the commands of the Lord their God. They made two statues of gods for themselves. The statues were shaped like calves. They made a pole that was used to worship the goddess Asherah. They bowed down to all of the stars. And they worshiped the god Baal.

¹⁷They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced all kinds of evil magic. They gave themselves over to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord. All of those things made him very angry.

¹⁸So the Lord was filled with anger against Israel. He removed them from his land. Only the tribe of Judah was left. ¹⁹And even Judah didn’t obey the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had started.

²⁰So the Lord turned his back on all of the people of Israel. He made them suffer. He handed them over to people who stole everything they had. And finally he threw them out of his land.

²¹He tore Israel away from the royal house of David. The people of Israel made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, their king. Jeroboam tried to get Israel to stop following the Lord. He caused them to commit a terrible sin. ²²The people of Israel were stubborn. They continued to commit all of the sins Jeroboam had committed. They didn’t turn away from them.

²³So the Lord removed them from his land. That’s what he had warned them he would do. He had given that warning through all of his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken away from their country. They were forced to go to Assyria. And that’s where they still are.

Assyria Brings Other People to Samaria

²⁴The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon. He also brought them from Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim. He settled all of them in the towns of Samaria. They took the place of the people of Israel. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

²⁵When they first lived there, they didn’t worship the Lord. So he sent lions among them. And the lions killed some of the people.

²⁶A report was given to the king of Assyria. He was told, “You forced people to leave their own homes. You settled them in the towns of Samaria. But they don’t know what the god of that country requires. So he has sent lions among them. And the lions are killing the people off. That’s because the people don’t know what that god requires.”

²⁷Then the king of Assyria gave an order. He said, “Get one of the priests you captured from Samaria. Send him back to live there. Have him teach the people what the god of that land requires.”

²⁸So one of the priests went back to live in Bethel. He was one of those who had been forced to leave Samaria. He taught the people there how to worship the Lord.

²⁹In spite of that, the people from each nation made statues of their own gods. They made them in all of the towns where they had settled. They set up those statues in small temples. The people of Samaria had built the temples at the high places. ³⁰The people from Babylon made statues of the god…