2 Kings 15-17

Common English Bible

Azariah rules Judah

15 Azariah, Amaziah’s son, became king of Judah in the twenty-seventh year of Israel’s King Jeroboam. ² He was 16 years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ However, the shrines weren’t removed. People kept sacrificing and burning incense at them. ⁵ Now the Lord afflicted the king with a skin disease that he had until his dying day, so he lived in a separate house.^[a] The king’s son Jotham supervised the palace administration and governed the people of the land. ⁶ The rest of Azariah’s deeds and all he accomplished, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? ⁷ Azariah died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

Zechariah rules Israel

⁸ Zechariah, Jeroboam’s son, became king of Israel in Samaria in the thirty-eighth year of Judah’s King Azariah. He ruled for six months. ⁹ He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes, just as his ancestors had done. He didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit. ¹⁰ Shallum, Jabesh’s son, plotted against Zechariah. He struck him down in public,^[b] murdering him. Shallum then succeeded him as king. ¹¹ The rest of Zechariah’s deeds are written in the official records of Israel’s kings. ¹² This was exactly what the Lord spoke to Jehu: Your descendants will sit on Israel’s throne for four generations. And that’s exactly what happened.

Shallum rules Israel

¹³ Shallum, Jabesh’s son, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Judah’s King Uzziah. He ruled for one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Menahem, Gadi’s son, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria. He struck down Jabesh’s son Shallum in Samaria, murdering him. Menahem then succeeded him as king. ¹⁵ The rest of Shallum’s deeds and the conspiracy he plotted are written in the official records of Israel’s kings.

Menahem rules Israel

¹⁶ Menahem then moved from Tirzah and attacked Tiphsah, all its citizens, and its neighboring areas. Because they wouldn’t surrender, he attacked and ripped open all its pregnant women. ¹⁷ Menahem, Gadi’s son, became king of Israel in the thirty-ninth year of Judah’s King Azariah. He ruled for ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. Throughout his life, he didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit. ¹⁹ When Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser^[c] marched against the land, Menahem gave Tiglath-pileser one thousand silver kikkars in order to become his ally and to strengthen his hold on the kingdom. ²⁰ Menahem taxed Israel for this money. All the wealthy people had to give fifty silver shekels each to Assyria’s king. So Assyria’s king went home and didn’t stay there in the land. ²¹ The rest of Menahem’s deeds and all that he accomplished, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? ²² Menahem lay down with his ancestors. His son Pekahiah succeeded him as king.

Pekahiah rules Israel

²³ Pekahiah, Menahem’s son, became king of Israel in the fiftieth year of Judah’s King Azariah. He ruled for two years in Samaria. ²⁴ He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. He didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit. ²⁵ Pekah, Remaliah’s son and Pekahiah’s officer, plotted against him. Pekah struck Pekahiah in Samaria at the palace fortress, along with Argob and Arieh.^[d] Pekah had fifty Gileadites with him. He murdered Pekahiah and succeeded him as king. ²⁶ The rest of Pekahiah’s deeds and all that he accomplished are written in the official records of Israel’s kings.

Pekah rules Israel

²⁷ Pekah, Remaliah’s son, became king of Israel in the fifty-second year of Judah’s King Azariah. Pekah ruled for twenty years in Samaria. ²⁸ He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. He didn’t deviate from the sins that Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, had caused Israel to commit. ²⁹ In the days of Israel’s King Pekah, Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali. He sent the people into exile to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea, Elah’s son, plotted against Pekah, Remaliah’s son. He struck Pekah down, murdering him. Hoshea became king after Pekah in the twentieth year of Uzziah’s son Jotham. ³¹ The rest of Pekah’s kingship and all that he accomplished are written in the official records of Israel’s kings.

Jotham rules Judah

³² Jotham, Uzziah’s son, became king of Judah in the second year of Israel’s King Pekah, Remaliah’s son. ³³ Jotham was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha; she was Zadok’s daughter. ³⁴ Jotham did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ However, he didn’t remove the shrines. The people continued to sacrifice and burn incense at them. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple. ³⁶ The rest of Jotham’s deeds, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? ³⁷ It was in those days that the Lord began to send Aram’s King Rezin and Pekah, Remaliah’s son, against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City.^[e] His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

Ahaz rules Judah

16 Ahaz, Jotham’s son, became king of Judah in the seventeenth year of Pekah, Remaliah’s son. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what was right in the Lord’s eyes, unlike his ancestor David. ³ Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel’s kings. He even burned his own son alive, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ⁴ He also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines on every hill and beneath every shady tree. ⁵ Then Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah, Remaliah’s son, came up to Jerusalem to fight. They surrounded Ahaz, but they weren’t able to defeat him. ⁶ At that time Aram’s King Rezin recovered Elath for the Arameans, driving the Judeans out of Elath. The Edomites^[f] came to Elath and settled there, and that’s still the case now.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser, saying, “I’m your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the power of the kings of Aram and Israel. Both of them are attacking me!” ⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was in the Lord’s temple and in the palace treasuries, and sent a gift to Assyria’s king. ⁹ The Assyrian king heard the request and marched against Damascus. He captured it and sent its citizens into exile to Kir. He also killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet up with Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser. King Ahaz noticed the altar that was in Damascus, and he sent the altar’s plan and details for its construction to the priest Uriah. ¹¹ Uriah built the altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; he had it finished before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

¹² When the king arrived from Damascus, he inspected the altar. He came close to it, then went up on it, ¹³ burning his entirely burned offering and grain offering, pouring out his drink offering, and sprinkling the blood of his well-being sacrifices on the altar. ¹⁴ As for the bronze altar that used to stand before the Lord, Ahaz moved it away from the front of the temple where it had stood between the main altar and the Lord’s temple. He put it on the north side of the new altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz ordered the priest Uriah, saying, “Burn the following sacrifices on the main altar:

“Sprinkle all the blood of the entirely burned offerings and all the blood of the sacrifices on it. I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”^{[g] 16} Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the side panels from the stands and removed the basins from them. He took the Sea down from the bronze bulls that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. ¹⁸ He also took away the sabbath canopy that had been built in the temple. He removed the royal entrance outside the Lord’s temple. This was done because of the Assyrian king.

¹⁹ The rest of Ahaz’s deeds, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? ²⁰ Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

Hoshea rules Israel

17 Hoshea, Elah’s son, became king in Samaria in the twelfth year of Judah’s king Ahaz. He ruled over Israel for nine years. ² He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes, but he wasn’t as bad as the Israelite kings who preceded him. ³ Assyria’s King Shalmaneser marched against Hoshea, and Hoshea became Shalmaneser’s servant, paying him tribute. ⁴ But the Assyrian king discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, because Hoshea sent messengers to Egypt’s King So. Hoshea stopped paying tribute to the Assyrian king as he had in previous years, so the Assyrian king arrested him and put him in prison. ⁵ Then the Assyrian king invaded the whole country. He marched against Samaria and attacked it for three years. ⁶ In Hoshea’s ninth year, the Assyrian king captured Samaria. He sent Israel into exile to Assyria, resettling them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

The northern kingdom falls

⁷ All this happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt, out from under the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. They worshipped other gods. ⁸ They followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had removed before the Israelites, as well as the practices that the Israelite kings had done.^{[h] 9} The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that weren’t right. They built shrines in all their towns, from watchtowers to fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up sacred pillars and sacred poles^[i] on every high hill and beneath every green tree. ¹¹ At every shrine they burned incense, just as the nations did that the Lord sent into exile before them. They did evil things that made the Lord angry. ¹² They worshipped images about which the Lord had said, Don’t do such things! ¹³ The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and seers, telling them, Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commandments and my regulations in agreement with the entire Instruction that I commanded your ancestors and sent through my servants the prophets.

¹⁴ But they wouldn’t listen. They were stubborn like their ancestors who didn’t trust the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his regulations and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, along with the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless images so that they too became worthless. And they imitated the neighboring nations that the Lord had forbidden them to imitate. ¹⁶ They deserted all the commandments of the Lord their God. They made themselves two metal idols cast in the shape of calves and made a sacred pole.^[j] They bowed down to all the heavenly bodies. They served Baal. ¹⁷ They burned their sons and daughters alive. They practiced divination and sought omens. They gave themselves over to doing what was evil in the Lord’s eyes and made him angry.

¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry at Israel. He removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was spared. ¹⁹ But Judah didn’t keep the commands of the Lord their God either. They followed the practices of Israel. ²⁰ So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants. He punished them, and he handed them over to enemies who plundered them until he finally threw them out of his sight.

²¹ When Israel broke away^[k] from David’s dynasty, they made Nebat’s son Jeroboam the king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord. He caused them to commit great sin. ²² And the Israelites continued walking in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They didn’t deviate from them, ²³ and the Lord finally removed Israel from his presence. That was exactly what he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from its land to Assyria. And that’s still how it is today.

New settlers in Samaria

²⁴ The Assyrian king brought people from Babylon, Cuth, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, resettling them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. These people took control of Samaria and settled in its cities. ²⁵ But when they began to live there, they didn’t worship the Lord, so the Lord sent lions against them, and the lions began to kill them. ²⁶ Assyria’s king was told about this: “The nations you sent into exile and resettled in the cities of Samaria don’t know the religious practices of the local god. He’s sent lions against them, and the lions are killing them because none of them know the religious practices of the local god.”

²⁷ So Assyria’s king commanded, “Return one of the priests that you exiled from there. He^[l] should go back and live there. He should teach them the religious practices of the local god.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria went back. He lived in Bethel and taught the people how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ But each nationality still made its own gods. They set them up in the houses that the people of Samaria had made at the shrines. Each nationality did this in whichever cities they lived. ³⁰ The Babylonian people made the god Succoth-benoth, the Cuthean people made Nergal, and the people from Hamath made Ashima. ³¹ The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites burned their children alive as a sacrifice to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the Sepharvite gods. ³² They also worshipped the Lord, but they appointed priests for the shrines from their whole population. These priests worked in the houses at the shrines. ³³ So they worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods according to the religious practices of the nations from which they had been exiled.

³⁴ They are still following their former religious practices to this very day. They don’t really worship the Lord. Nor do they follow the regulations, the case laws, the Instruction, or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. ³⁵ The Lord had made a covenant with them, commanding them, Don’t worship other gods. Don’t bow down to them or serve them. Don’t sacrifice to them. ³⁶ Instead, worship only the Lord. He’s the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great strength and an outstretched arm. Bow down to him! Sacrifice to him! ³⁷ You must carefully keep the regulations and case laws, the Instruction, and the commandment that he wrote for you. Don’t worship other gods. ³⁸ Don’t forget the covenant that I made with you. Don’t worship other gods. ³⁹ Instead, worship only the Lord your God. He will rescue you from your enemies’ power.

⁴⁰ But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they continued doing their former religious practices. ⁴¹ So these nations worship the Lord, but they also serve their idols. The children and the grandchildren are doing the very same thing their parents did. And that’s how things still are today.