2 Kings 17–18

Hoshea Last King of Israel

17:3–7pp—2Ki 18:9–12

17In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea^f son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. ²He did evil^g in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

³Shalmaneser^h king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute.^{i 4}But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So^a king of Egypt,^j and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.^{k 5}The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege^l to it for three years. ⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria^m captured Samariaⁿ and deported^o the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan^p on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.

Israel Exiled Because of Sin

⁷All this took place because the Israelites had sinned^q against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt^r from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods ⁸and followed the practices of the nations^s the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city^t they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰They set up sacred stones^u and Asherah poles^v on every high hill and under every spreading tree.^{w 11}At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. ¹²They worshiped idols,^x though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”^{b 13}The Lord warned^y Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers:^z “Turn from your evil ways.^a Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”^b

¹⁴But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked^c as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵They rejected his decrees and the covenant^d he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols^e and themselves became worthless.^f They imitated the nations^g around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

¹⁶They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves,^h and an Asherahⁱ pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts,^j and they worshiped Baal.^{k 17}They sacrificed^l their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens^m and soldⁿ themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

¹⁸So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.^o Only the tribe of Judah was left, ¹⁹and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.^{p 20}Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers,^q until he thrust them from his presence.^r

²¹When he tore^s Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king.^t Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.^{u 22}The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them ²³until the Lord removed them from his presence,^v as he had warned^w through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland^x into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

Samaria Resettled

²⁴The king of Assyria^y brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim^z and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. ²⁵When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions^a among them and they killed some of the people. ²⁶It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.”

²⁷Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” ²⁸So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.

²⁹Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns^b where they settled, and set them up in the shrines^c the people of Samaria had made at the high places.^{d 30}The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, those from Kuthah made Nergal, and those from Hamath made Ashima; ³¹the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek^e and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim.^{f 32}They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts^g of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. ³³They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

³⁴To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.^{h 35}When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worshipⁱ any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.^{j 36}But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm,^k is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. ³⁷You must always be careful^l to keep the decrees^m and regulations, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. ³⁸Do not forgetⁿ the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. ³⁹Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”

⁴⁰They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. ⁴¹Even while these people were worshiping the Lord,^o they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.

Hezekiah King of Judah

18:2–4pp—2Ch 29:1–2; 31:1 18:5–7pp—2Ch 31:20–21 18:9–12pp—2Ki 17:3–7

18In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah^p son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.^q His mother’s name was Abijah^a daughter of Zechariah. ³He did what was right^r in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David^s had done. ⁴He removed^t the high places,^u smashed the sacred stones^v and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake^w Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.^b)

⁵Hezekiah trusted^x in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. ⁶He held fast^y to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷And the Lord was with him; he was successful^z in whatever he undertook. He rebelled^a against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸From watchtower to fortified city,^b he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.

⁹In King Hezekiah’s fourth year,^c which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹The king^d of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.^{e 12}This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant^f—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.^g They neither listened to the commands^h nor carried them out.

¹³In the fourteenth yearⁱ of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^j and captured them. ¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^k “I have done wrong.^l Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^c of silver and thirty talents^d of gold. ¹⁵So Hezekiah gave^m him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doorsⁿ and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

18:13, 17–37pp—Isa 36:1–22 18:17–35pp—2Ch 32:9–19

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^o his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^p on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for the king; and Eliakim^q son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^r the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence^s of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,^t that…