2 Kings 17–18

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^aHoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. ²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3bShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea ^cbecame his vassal, and paid him tribute money. ⁴And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought 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.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

⁵Now ^dthe king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. ^6eIn the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and ^fcarried Israel away to Assyria, ^gand placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷For ^hso it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ⁱfeared other gods, ⁸and ^jhad walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ¹high places in all their cities, ^kfrom watchtower to fortified city. ^10lThey set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^mwooden images ²ⁿon every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹²for they served idols, ^oof which the Lord had said to them, ^p“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^qprophets, ^revery seer, saying, ^s“Turn 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.” ¹⁴Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^tstiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^udid not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵And they ^vrejected His statutes ^wand His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^xidols, ^ybecame idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^znot do like them. ¹⁶So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^amade for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^bmade a wooden image and worshiped all the ^chost of heaven, ^dand served Baal. ^17eAnd they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^fpracticed witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^gsold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^hbut the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹Also ⁱJudah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and ^jdelivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His ^ksight. ²¹For ^lHe tore Israel from the house of David, and ^mthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. ²²For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, ²³until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, ⁿas He had said by all His servants the prophets. ^oSo Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24pThen the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, ^qAva, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. ²⁵And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁸Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them ^rin the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. ³⁰The men of ^sBabylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ^31tand the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^uburned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²So they feared the Lord, ^vand from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the ³high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ^33wThey feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

³⁴To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, ^xwhom He named Israel, ³⁵with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: ^y“You shall not fear other gods, nor ^zbow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶but the Lord, who ^abrought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and ^ban outstretched arm, ^cHim you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. ³⁷And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^dyou shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸And the covenant that I have made with you, ^eyou shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. ^41fSo these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18Now it came to pass in the third year of ^aHoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that ^bHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^cAbi ¹the daughter of Zechariah. ³And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4dHe removed the ²high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the ³wooden image and broke in pieces the ^ebronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it ⁴Nehushtan. ⁵He ^ftrusted in the Lord God of Israel, ^gso that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. ⁶For he ^hheld fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷The Lord ⁱwas with him; he ^jprospered wherever he went. And he ^krebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ^8lHe ⁵subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, ^mfrom watchtower to fortified city.

⁹Now ⁿit came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, ^othe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ^11pThen the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them ^qin Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they ^rdid not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

¹³And ^sin the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵So Hezekiah ^tgave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave ⁶it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent the ⁷Tartan, the ⁸Rabsaris, and the ⁹Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the ^uaqueduct from the upper pool, ^vwhich was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸And when they had called to the king, ^wEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the ¹scribe, and…