Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(A)Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (B)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea ^(C)became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. ⁴ And 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^(D)

⁵ Now ^(E)the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. ^6 (F)In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and ^(G)carried Israel away to Assyria, ^(H)and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ For ^(I)so 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 ^(J)feared other gods, ⁸ and ^(K)had 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. ⁹ Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ^[a]high places in all their cities, ^(L)from watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (M)They set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^(N)wooden images^{[b] (O)}on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ There 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, ¹² for they served idols, ^(P)of which the Lord had said to them, ^(Q)“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^(R)prophets, ^(S)every seer, saying, ^(T)“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.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^(U)stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^(V)did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ And they ^(W)rejected His statutes ^(X)and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^(Y)idols, ^(Z)became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^(AA)not do like them. ¹⁶ So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^(AB)made for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^(AC)made a wooden image and worshiped all the ^(AD)host of heaven, ^(AE)and served Baal. ^17 (AF)And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^(AG)practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^(AH)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^(AI)but the tribe of Judah alone.

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

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (AQ)Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, ^(AR)Ava, 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. ²⁵ And 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. ²⁶ So 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.” ²⁷ Then 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.” ²⁸ Then 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.

²⁹ However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them ^(AS)in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. ³⁰ The men of ^(AT)Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ^31 (AU)and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(AV)burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared the Lord, ^(AW)and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the ^[c]high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ^33 (AX)They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

³⁴ To 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, ^(AY)whom He named Israel, ³⁵ with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: ^(AZ)“You shall not fear other gods, nor ^(BA)bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶ but the Lord, who ^(BB)brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and ^(BC)an outstretched arm, ^(BD)Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^(BE)you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you, ^(BF)you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹ But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. ^41 (BG)So 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^(A)

18 Now it came to pass in the third year of ^(B)Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that ^(C)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(D)Abi^[a] the daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4 (E)He removed the ^[b]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the ^[c]wooden image and broke in pieces the ^(F)bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it ^[d]Nehushtan. ⁵ He ^(G)trusted in the Lord God of Israel, ^(H)so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. ⁶ For he ^(I)held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord ^(J)was with him; he ^(K)prospered wherever he went. And he ^(L)rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ^8 (M)He ^[e]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(N)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ Now ^(O)it 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. ¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, ^(P)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ^11 (Q)Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them ^(R)in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they ^(S)did 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.

Journeys in Greece

20 After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and ^(A)departed to go to Macedonia. ² Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to ^(B)Greece ³ and stayed three months. And ^(C)when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also ^(D)Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and ^(E)Gaius of Derbe, and ^(F)Timothy, and ^(G)Tychicus and ^(H)Trophimus of Asia. ⁵ These men, going ahead, waited for us at ^(I)Troas. ⁶ But we sailed away from Philippi after ^(J)the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them ^(K)at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Ministering at Troas

⁷ Now on ^(L)the first day of the week, when the disciples came together ^(M)to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps ^(N)in the upper room where ^[a]they were gathered together. ⁹ And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down, ^(O)fell on him, and embracing him said, ^(P)“Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. ¹² And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

¹³ Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had ^[b]given orders, intending himself to go on foot. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for ^(Q)he was hurrying ^(R)to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on ^(S)the Day of Pentecost.

The Ephesian Elders Exhorted

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, ^(T)from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me ^(U)by the plotting of the Jews; ²⁰ how ^(V)I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, ^21 (W)testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, ^(X)repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And see, now ^(Y)I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(Z)the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. ^24 [c]But ^(AA)none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, ^(AB)so that I may finish my ^[d]race with joy, ^(AC)and the ministry ^(AD)which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵ “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. ²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am ^(AE)innocent^[e] of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I have not ^[f]shunned to declare to you ^(AF)the whole counsel of God. ^28 (AG)Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit ^(AH)has made you overseers, to shepherd the church ^[g]of God ^(AI)which He purchased ^(AJ)with His own blood. ²⁹ For I know this, that after my departure ^(AK)savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ Also ^(AL)from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking ^[h]perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. ³¹ Therefore watch, and remember that ^(AM)for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

³² “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and ^(AN)to the word of His grace, which is able ^(AO)to build you up and give you ^(AP)an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ^34 [i]Yes, you yourselves know ^(AQ)that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. ³⁵ I have shown you in every way, ^(AR)by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ Then they all ^(AS)wept ^[j]freely, and ^(AT)fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, ³⁸ sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Praise to the Lord from Creation