Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(A)Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (B)Against him came up ^(C)Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery 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. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria ^(D)captured Samaria, ^(E)and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria ^(F)and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of ^(G)Gozan, and in the cities of ^(H)the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

⁷ And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^(I)who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods ^8 (J)and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^(K)and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. ⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ^(L)from watchtower to fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves ^(M)pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, ¹¹ and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, ¹² and they served idols, ^(N)of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” ¹³ Yet the Lord ^(O)warned Israel and Judah ^(P)by every prophet ^(Q)and every seer, saying, ^(R)“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But they would not listen, ^(S)but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They despised his statutes ^(T)and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after ^(U)false idols ^(V)and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the ^(W)Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶ And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of ^(X)two calves; and they ^(Y)made an Asherah and ^(Z)worshiped all the host of heaven and served ^(AA)Baal. ^17 (AB)And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings^[a] and used ^(AC)divination and ^(AD)omens and ^(AE)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ^(AF)the tribe of Judah only.

^19 (AG)Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them ^(AH)and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

^21 (AI)When he had torn Israel from the house of David, ^(AJ)they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord ^(AK)and made them commit great sin. ²² The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, ²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, ^(AL)as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. ^(AM)So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (AN)And the king of Assyria brought people from ^(AO)Babylon, Cuthah, ^(AP)Avva, ^(AQ)Hamath, and ^(AR)Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him^[b] go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in ^(AS)Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them ^(AT)in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. ³⁰ The men of ^(AU)Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(AV)burned their children in the fire to ^(AW)Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of ^(AX)Sepharvaim. ^32 (AY)They also feared the Lord ^(AZ)and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of ^(BA)the high places. ³³ So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

³⁴ To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, ^(BB)whom he named Israel. ³⁵ The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, ^(BC)“You shall not fear other gods ^(BD)or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, ³⁶ but ^(BE)you shall fear the Lord, ^(BF)who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and ^(BG)with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, ^(BH)you shall always be careful to do. ^(BI)You shall not fear other gods, ³⁸ and ^(BJ)you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. ^(BK)You shall not fear other gods, ³⁹ but ^(BL)you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

^41 (BM)So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

28 ^(A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, ² but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made ^(B)metal images for ^(C)the Baals, ³ and ^(D)he made offerings in the ^(E)Valley of the Son of Hinnom and ^(F)burned his sons as an offering,^[a] according to ^(G)the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ⁴ And he sacrificed and ^(H)made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Judah Defeated

^5 (I)Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. ⁶ For ^(J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

⁸ The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^(K)of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(L)was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^(M)that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, and send back the captives ^(N)from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹² Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³ and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵ And ^(O)the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^(P)provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^(Q)the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

^16 (R)At that time King Ahaz sent to the king^[b] of Assyria for help. ¹⁷ For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. ^18 (S)And the Philistines had made raids on ^(T)the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco ^(U)with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. ¹⁹ For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made ^(V)Judah act sinfully^[c] and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰ So ^(W)Tiglath-pileser^[d] king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. ^21 (X)For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.

Ahaz's Idolatry

²² In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. ²³ For ^(Y)he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, ^(Z)“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. ²⁴ And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and ^(AA)cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself ^(AB)altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every city of Judah he made high places to ^(AC)make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. ^26 (AD)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for ^(AE)they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

God Is Our Fortress

To the choirmaster. Of ^(A)the Sons of Korah. According to ^(B)Alamoth.^[a] A Song.

Taming the Tongue

3 ^(A)Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ² For ^(B)we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^(C)he is a perfect man, ^(D)able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put ^(E)bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^(F)it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And ^(G)the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^(H)staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,^[a] and set on fire by hell.^{[b] 7} For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, ^(I)full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people ^(J)who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,^[c] these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? ^(K)By his good conduct let him show his works ^(L)in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter ^(M)jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not ^(N)the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^(O)demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But ^(P)the wisdom from above is first pure, then ^(Q)peaceable, gentle, open to reason, ^(R)full of mercy and good fruits, ^(S)impartial and ^(T)sincere. ¹⁸ And ^(U)a harvest of righteousness ^(V)is sown in peace by those who make peace.