July
10
2
Kings 16-18
2Ki
16:1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the
son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
2Ki
16:2 Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign; and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he didn't do that which was
right in the eyes of Yahweh his God, like David his father.
2Ki
16:3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made
his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of
the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel.
2Ki
16:4 He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the
hills, and under every green tree.
2Ki
16:5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of
Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could
not overcome him.
2Ki
16:6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and
drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived
there, to this day.
2Ki
16:7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria,
saying, I am your servant and your 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, who rise up against me.
2Ki
16:8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of
Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a
present to the king of Assyria.
2Ki
16:9 The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria
went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the
people of it captive to Kir, and killed
Rezin.
2Ki
16:10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of
Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent
to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and its pattern,
according to all its workmanship.
2Ki
16:11 Urijah the priest built an altar: according to all that king
Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did Urijah the priest make it against
the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus.
2Ki
16:12 When the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar:
and the king drew near to the altar, and offered thereon.
2Ki
16:13 He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured
his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings,
on the altar.
2Ki
16:14 The bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from the
forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of
Yahweh, and put it on the north side of his altar.
2Ki
16:15 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, On the great
altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering,
and the king's burnt offering, and his meal offering, with the burnt
offering of all the people of the land, and their meal offering, and
their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt
offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: but the bronze altar
shall be for me to inquire by.
2Ki
16:16 Urijah the priest did so, according to all that king Ahaz
commanded.
2Ki
16:17 King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the
basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen
that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.
2Ki
16:18 The covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the
house, and the king's entry outside, turned he to the house of
Yahweh, because of the king of Assyria.
2Ki
16:19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren't they
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki
16:20 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers
in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
2Ki
17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son
of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, and
reigned nine years.
2Ki
17:2 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as
the kings of Israel who were before him.
2Ki
17:3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea
became his servant, and brought him tribute.
2Ki
17:4 The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent
messengers to So king of Egypt, and 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.
2Ki
17:5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and
went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
2Ki
17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on
the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki
17:7 It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against
Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from
under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
2Ki
17:8 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out
from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which
they made.
2Ki
17:9 The children of Israel did secretly things that were not right
against Yahweh their God: and they built them high places in all
their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
2Ki
17:10 and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill,
and under every green tree;
2Ki
17:11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did
the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they worked
wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;
2Ki
17:12 and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, You
shall not do this thing.
2Ki
17:13 Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every
prophet, and every seer, saying, 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.
2Ki
17:14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck,
like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh their
God.
2Ki
17:15 They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with
their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and
they followed vanity, and became vain, and went
after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had
commanded them that they should not do like them.
2Ki
17:16 They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and
made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and
worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
2Ki
17:17 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the
fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
2Ki
17:18 Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them
out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2Ki
17:19 Also Judah didn't keep the commandments of Yahweh their God,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
2Ki
17:20 Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them,
and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them
out of his sight.
2Ki
17:21 For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made
Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from
following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.
2Ki
17:22 The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam
which he did; they didn't depart from them;
2Ki
17:23 until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by
all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of
their own land to Assyria to this day.
2Ki
17:24 The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah,
and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the
cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they
possessed Samaria, and lived in the cities of it.
2Ki
17:25 So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they
didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which
killed some of them.
2Ki
17:26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The
nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of
Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land: therefore he has
sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they don't
know the law of the god of the land.
2Ki
17:27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of
the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell
there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.
2Ki
17:28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria
came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear
Yahweh.
2Ki
17:29 However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in
the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every
nation in their cities in which they lived.
2Ki
17:30 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth
made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
2Ki
17:31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites
burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the
gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki
17:32 So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves
priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of
the high places.
2Ki
17:33 They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the
manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
2Ki
17:34 To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear
Yahweh, neither do they after their statutes, or after their
ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh
commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
2Ki
17:35 with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded them,
saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them,
nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
2Ki
17:36 but Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with
great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to
him you shall bow yourselves, and to him you shall sacrifice:
2Ki
17:37 and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the
commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do
forevermore; and you shall not fear other gods:
2Ki
17:38 and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with
you; neither shall you fear other gods:
2Ki
17:39 but you shall fear Yahweh your God; and he will deliver you
out of the hand of all your enemies.
2Ki
17:40 However they did not listen, but they did after their former
manner.
2Ki
17:41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved
images; their children likewise, and their children's children, as
did their fathers, so do they to this day.
2Ki
18:1 Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of
Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2Ki
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi
the daughter of Zechariah.
2Ki
18:3 He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to
all that David his father had done.
2Ki
18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down
the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had
made; for to those days the children of Israel did burn incense to
it; and he called it Nehushtan.
2Ki
18:5 He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was
none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among
them that were before him.
2Ki
18:6 For he joined with Yahweh; he didn't depart from following him,
but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.
2Ki
18:7 Yahweh was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and
he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn't serve him.
2Ki
18:8 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the
tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
2Ki
18:9 It happened in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the
seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser
king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
2Ki
18:10 At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of
Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria
was taken.
2Ki
18:11 The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put
them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the
cities of the Medes,
2Ki
18:12 because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God, but
transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh
commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.
2Ki
18:13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib
king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah,
and took them.
2Ki
18:14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish,
saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me
will I bear. The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah
three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
2Ki
18:15 Hezekiah gave him
all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the
treasures of the king's house.
2Ki
18:16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the
gold from the doors of the temple of
Yahweh, and from
the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to
the king of Assyria.
2Ki
18:17 The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh
from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They
went up and came to Jerusalem. When they were come up, they came and
stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of
the fuller's field.
2Ki
18:18 When they had called to the king, there came out to them
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah
the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
2Ki
18:19 Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the
great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you
trust?
2Ki
18:20 You say (but they are but vain words), There
is counsel and strength for the war. Now
on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
2Ki
18:21 Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even
in Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce
it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.
2Ki
18:22 But if you tell me, We trust in Yahweh our God; isn't that he
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has
said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar
in Jerusalem?
2Ki
18:23 Now therefore, Please give pledges to my master the king of
Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on
your part to set riders on them.
2Ki
18:24 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the
least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for
chariots and for horsemen?
2Ki
18:25 Am I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy
it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
2Ki
18:26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah,
to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Jews' language,
in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
2Ki
18:27 But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your
master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the
men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their
own water with you?
2Ki
18:28 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the
king of Assyria.
2Ki
18:29 Thus says the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you; for he
will not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
2Ki
18:30 neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh
will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the
hand of the king of Assyria.
2Ki
18:31 Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria,
Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat
of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the
waters of his own cistern;
2Ki
18:32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a
land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of
olive trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die: and don't
listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, Yahweh will
deliver us.
2Ki
18:33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out
of the hand of the king of Assyria?
2Ki
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods
of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria out of
my hand?
2Ki
18:35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have
delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand?
2Ki
18:36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word;
for the king's commandment was, saying, Don't answer him.
2Ki
18:37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the
recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words
of Rabshakeh.