Old/New Testament
17 During the 12th year of Ahaz (Judah’s king), Hoshea (Elah’s son) inherited Israel’s throne in Samaria. His reign lasted nine years. 2 He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes, but not in the same way some of Israel’s kings had.
3 Shalmaneser, Assyria’s king, waged war against Hoshea, but Hoshea humbled himself before Shalmaneser by paying tribute. 4 But Shalmaneser sensed a secret plot in Hoshea who, instead of paying the expected tribute to Shalmaneser as he had done yearly, had sent messengers to So, the king of Egypt. Because of this, Assyria’s king bound and locked Hoshea in prison.
The easiest way to make Assyria angry is to attempt an alliance with Egypt. During this time, Assyria and Egypt are the two “world powers,” struggling to expand their borders and continually fighting over Israel and Judah, who are stuck in the middle. Hoshea’s appeal to Egypt for help is a perfectly logical move. Unfortunately, Egypt does not help, and without military power to back up Hoshea’s bold refusal to pay tribute, the Northern Kingdom is doomed.
5 Assyria’s king then invaded Israel and besieged Samaria for three years. 6 During Hoshea’s ninth year, Assyria’s king captured Samaria and carried off the Israelites to exile in Assyria. The exiles were forced to stay in Halah and Habor on the Gozan River and also in the cities of the Medes.
7 This all happened because the Israelites had committed countless wicked deeds against their God, the Eternal One, who brought them out of Egypt and freed them from the oppression fueled by Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. They revered gods other than the Lord 8 and lived by the wicked traditions of the people whom the Eternal had forced out of the land before the Israelites arrived. They lived by the religious and cultural practices that Israel’s kings had introduced. 9 The Israelites committed unrighteous acts and tried to hide them from the Eternal their God; but of course, the Lord witnessed them all. They constructed high places everywhere, small or large—from lookout towers to fortified cities. 10 They decorated every hill and the shade of every tree with holy pillars and sacred poles. 11 They burned incense at all the high places just as the people whom the Eternal One had forced out of the land before them had done. They repeated the very same sins. They did many wicked deeds, provoking the anger of the Eternal. 12 They placed themselves in the service of idols—the same ones He had given them instructions about, commanding, “Do not do this. They are evil!”[a]
13 The Eternal One gave fair warning to Israel and Judah. He gave His warning through the mouths of prophets and seers throughout the land: “Abandon your wickedness, and obey My commands and laws which I gave to your ancestors through the mouths of My servants, the prophets.”
14 But the Israelites were fools and did not heed the warning. They were stubborn just like their ancestors who did not trust in the Eternal One their God. 15 They spurned His laws and even the covenant He had entered into with their ancestors. They rejected the fair warnings He gave to them. They were devoted to their own vanity and followed the same wicked path as the neighboring nations—the ones He had instructed them not to imitate. 16 They abandoned all the laws the Eternal One their God had given to them. They crafted two golden calves, put up a sacred pole, and also praised the sun, the moon, the stars, and Baal as their master. 17 They made their children pass through the fire, they performed witchcraft and divining, and they committed evil in the eyes of the Eternal and provoked Him to burn with anger. 18 Therefore, He was furious with Israel, so He banished them from His sight. The only tribe that remained was Judah. 19 But Judah also abandoned the laws of their God, the Eternal One, and they walked the same wicked path the Israelites had walked. 20 He rejected all the sons and daughters of Israel and banished them from His sight. He made them suffer and handed them over to pillagers until they were finally cast out of His presence.
21 After the Eternal had cut Israel out of the house of David, the people made Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) their first king. But he caused the people to turn away from the Eternal One and caused Israel to sin in every way. 22 The Israelites walked the wicked path of Jeroboam 23 until the Eternal removed Israel from His presence, just as He had said through the mouths of His servants the prophets. The Israelites were forced to leave their own land and go live in Assyria, where they still dwell today.
24 Assyria’s king transported men from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim, and he made them live in the Samaritan towns and cities where the Israelites had lived. Samaria now belonged to these new inhabitants of the towns and cities. 25 When they first began living in Samaria, the foreigners lacked any fear of the Eternal One. So He caused lions to invade their ignorant community and kill some of the people. 26 One of them contacted Assyria’s king.
New Samaritan: The people you have transported to the cities of Samaria from foreign lands do not know the ways of Samaria’s God. He caused lions to invade our community and kill some of the people who are ignorant of the ways of Samaria’s God.
King of Assyria: 27 Send for one of the exiled priests, and take him back there so he can teach these new inhabitants the ways of Samaria’s God.
28 Ironically a priest who was exiled by God for not following His ways was brought back to Samaria and became responsible for teaching the new inhabitants how to revere the Eternal. He stayed at Bethel.
29 Even after all of this, all the nations were still crafting their own gods and placing them in the high places built by the Samaritans, each nation in the cities where it settled. 30 The Babylonian men crafted Succoth-benoth, the Cuth men crafted Nergal, the Hamath men crafted Ashima, 31 the Avvites crafted Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites gave their own children as burnt sacrifices to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. 32 They also greatly feared the Eternal One and nominated some of their own men to act as priests at the high places, interceding for them at the high places’ temples. 33 They feared Him while at the same time honoring the gods of the nations from where they had been exiled.
34 Still today, they honor the earlier traditions of the wicked people before them, and they fail to revere the Eternal properly. They do not honor the sacred laws and judgments that He gave to the descendants of Jacob (whom He called Israel). 35 He entered into a sacred covenant with the new Samaritans and gave them the same sacred commands to follow.
Eternal One: I am your God! Do not fear, bow down to, serve, or sacrifice to any other gods except for Me. 36 You should only fear, bow down to, and sacrifice to Me who led you out of Egypt with My great power and an outstretched arm. 37 Be careful to observe all the laws, statutes, ordinances, and commands I have inscribed for you. And do not revere any other gods. 38 Remember the sacred covenant you have entered into with Me, and do not revere any other gods except Me. I am your God—your only God! 39 You should only fear the Eternal One your God. I will deliver you from the grip of your enemies.
40 But they did not listen to the Lord’s message. Instead they did just as they had done when they lived in their own nations. 41 They feared the Eternal One while at the same time serving their own idols. Their descendants have done the same ever since.
In the New Testament, tension remains between the former “Northern Kingdom” and “Southern Kingdom,” although the names have changed. The Judeans in the south argue that only they maintain God’s law, and that the Samaritans in the north are no longer God’s people. Of course, the Samaritans believe the opposite. This argument started because of Assyria’s deportation practices. Although the religion of the Lord remained active in the Northern Kingdom after the Assyrian conquest, the importing of people from all over the East caused the religion to be combined with alien, pagan practices.
18 During the third year of Hoshea (Elah’s son and the last king of Israel), Hezekiah (Ahaz’s son) inherited the throne in Judah. 2 Hezekiah was 25 when he inherited the throne. His reign in Jerusalem lasted 29 years. His mother was Abi (Zechariah’s daughter). 3 He did what was good in the Eternal’s eyes, and he walked the same righteous path as his ancestor, David.
4 He tore down all of the wicked high places and demolished all the holy pillars and the sacred pole. He shattered the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted because the Israelites burned incense to honor it.[b] The bronze serpent was named, “the bronze thing.”[c] 5 Hezekiah put his trust in the Eternal One, Israel’s God. Before and after his righteous reign, no other king ever compared to him in Judah. 6 He embraced the Eternal, and he did not abandon the righteous path. He obeyed all the sacred laws that the Eternal had given to Moses. 7 The Eternal One was with Hezekiah, and His blessings covered him everywhere he went. Hezekiah defied Assyria’s king and refused to humble himself before him, unlike his father, Ahaz. 8 He conquered the Philistines all the way to Gaza, taking everything from imposing lookout towers to large fortified cities.
9 During King Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea (king of Israel and Elah’s son), Shalmaneser, Assyria’s king, waged war against Samaria and attacked it with full force. 10 After three years, during Hezekiah’s sixth year in Judah and Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel, they took possession of Samaria. 11 Assyria’s king transported the Israelites to Assyria as exiles. He forced them to live in Halah on the Habor (the river of Gozan) and in the cities of the Medes. 12 This took place because they did not obey the warning of the Eternal their God. Instead they transgressed both the sacred covenant He had made with them and everything Moses, the servant of the Eternal, had commanded. They would not listen to the sacred laws, much less obey them.
The Assyrian King Sennacherib invades Judah at the end of the 8th century. In 701 b.c., he reaches Jerusalem and sets himself against King Hezekiah. In one of his royal documents are words describing Hezekiah’s situation: “like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem, his royal city, I penned him.” Hezekiah is desperate and consults Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah tells Hezekiah to trust God entirely.
The story is phenomenal! God sends an angelic warrior to the Assyrian camp and 185,000 Assyrians from the royal army are killed. The Greek historian Herodotus also mentions this story and says that multitudes of rats brought a divine omen and disease to the Assyrian camp. The writer of the book of Kings clearly encourages his reader to see this event as God’s hand favoring Judah over Assyria.
13 During King Hezekiah’s 14th year, Sennacherib, Assyria’s king, attacked and captured all of Judah’s fortified cities. 14 Hezekiah (Judah’s king) sent a message to Sennacherib at Lachish.
Hezekiah’s Message: I confess that what I have done is wrong! Please leave now, and I will personally pay the penalty of my own actions.
Assyria’s king demanded 11 tons of silver and one ton of gold from Hezekiah, king of Judah. 15 Hezekiah gathered up all the silver he could find in the Eternal’s temple and in the palace treasuries; and he gave it to Assyria’s king, just as he had demanded. 16 He even stripped the gold off the Eternal’s temple doors and doorposts that he had gilded, and he handed it over to Assyria’s king.
17 Assyria’s king then dispatched a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The army was led by three senior military officers, Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish. They came to Jerusalem and waited by the channel of the upper pool. (The channel is on the main route to the fuller’s field.) 18 They called out to the king; but instead of the king coming out to meet them, Eliakim (Hilkiah’s son) the palace administrator, Shebnah the lawyer, and Joah (Asaph’s son) the reporter to the king and the people approached them.
Rabshakeh: 19 Go back and tell Hezekiah that this is the message of Assyria’s mighty king: “What is the basis of your confidence? 20 You are a big talker, saying, ‘I have everything I need for war—guidance and might.’ But to whom do you turn now that you have turned against me? 21 You turn to a broken reed, Egypt. If a man leans on a broken reed, it stabs his palm. It is the same with Egypt’s Pharaoh and all who lean on him. 22 But you profess to me, ‘We put our faith in the Eternal One our God.’ Is it not His high places and altars that Hezekiah has torn down? Did not Hezekiah tell Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Worship at this place in Jerusalem’?”
23 Make a deal with my master, Assyria’s king, and you will receive 2,000 horses from me. I hope you have enough riders for them. 24 How can you turn away a governor—even the least of my master’s governors—and lean on Egypt instead for horsemen and chariots? 25 Do you think I have come here to destroy this land without the Eternal’s permission? He is the One who told me, “Go destroy it! I’ll support you.”
Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah (to Rabshakeh): 26 This needs to be a private conversation. Please speak to your servants in a different tongue—Aramaic—for we understand it and do not need you to speak to us in Judean. That way everyone on the walls won’t be able to understand you.
Rabshakeh: 27 How arrogant and foolish of you! Do you think I have been sent here by my king to talk to only you and your king? I am to speak to everyone. Soon you and these men on the walls will surely be doomed to fill your bellies with your own dung and quench your thirst with your own urine.
28 (loudly in Judean) Listen to what Assyria’s mighty king has to say! 29 He says, “Do not trust in Hezekiah. He cannot save you from me! 30 Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you into trusting the Eternal when he says, ‘The Eternal One will save us, and our city will not be handed over to Assyria’s king.’” 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah. Assyria’s king says, “Let there be peace between us. Join me now, and fill your bellies with food from your own vineyards and orchards and drink from your own pools. 32 Then I will come and lead you to a land similar to your own—a land of plentiful grain, new wine, bread, vineyards, olive orchards, and honey. This is a place where you will live in peace and not worry about a premature death. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he lies to you, saying, ‘The Eternal will save us.’ 33 Have any of the gods of other nations ever saved their lands from Assyria’s king? Is there a single nation that has survived him? 34 Where are Hamath’s gods and Arpad’s gods? Where are Sepharvaim’s gods, Hena’s gods, and Ivvah’s gods? Did they save Samaria from me? 35 Are there any gods in any land that have saved their lands from me? No, there is not a single one. So do you really think that the Eternal will be any different? Do you really think He can save you, Jerusalem, from me?”
36 Everyone listening was quiet and did not reply with a single word, because the king had given them the command, “Don’t speak a single word to him.” 37 Eliakim (Hilkiah’s son) the palace administrator, Shebna the lawyer, and Joah (Asaph’s son) the reporter approached Hezekiah and tore their garments. Then they recited every word Rabshakeh had spoken to them.
19 Why does God allow for judgment and condemnation? Because the Light, sent from God, pierced through the world’s darkness to expose ill motives, hatred, gossip, greed, violence, and the like. Still some people preferred the darkness over the light because their actions were dark. 20 Some of humankind hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes. 21 Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God.
Jesus makes the point clear: stay connected to Him, and have no reason to fear. Jesus doesn’t mean that at the instant someone has faith, fear simply vanishes or only good things happen in that person’s life. In fact, the blessings that come with eternal life often have nothing to do with present or future circumstances, but they have everything to do with the individual’s connections to God and others. That is John’s message to his listeners. God came to earth embodied in flesh, and then He reached His greatest acclaim through a torturous death. If this is all true, then believers will find strength and beauty in places never imagined. Abiding in Jesus the Anointed is the good life, regardless of the external circumstances.
22 Not long after, Jesus and His disciples traveled to the Judean countryside where they could enjoy one another’s company and ritually cleanse new followers through baptism.[a] 23-24 About the same time, Jesus’ cousin John—the wandering prophet who had not yet been imprisoned—was upriver at Aenon near Salim baptizing scores of people in the abundant waters there. 25 John’s activities raised questions about the nature of purification among his followers and a religious leader, 26 so they approached him with their questions.
John’s Followers: Teacher, the One who was with you earlier on the other side of the Jordan, the One whom you have been pointing to, is baptizing[b] the multitudes who are coming to Him.
John the Baptist: 27 Apart from the gifts that come from heaven, no one can receive anything at all. 28 I have said it many times, and you have heard me—I am not the Anointed One; I am the one who comes before Him. 29 If you are confused, consider this: the groom is the one with the bride. The best man takes his place close by and listens for him. When he hears the voice of the groom, he is swept up in the joy of the moment. So hear me. My joy could not be more complete. 30 He, the groom, must take center stage; and I, the best man, must step to His side.
31 If someone comes from heaven above, he ranks above it all and speaks of heavenly things. If someone comes from earth, he speaks of earthly things. The One from the heavens is superior; He is over all. 32 He reveals the mysteries seen and realities heard of the heavens above, but no one below is listening. 33 Those who are listening and accept His witness to these truths have gone on record. They acknowledge the fact that God is true! 34 The One sent from God speaks with the very words of God and abounds with the very Spirit and essence of God. 35 The Father loves the Son and withholds nothing from Him. 36 Those who believe in the Son will bask in eternal life, but those who disobey the Son will never experience life. They will know only God’s lingering wrath.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.