Beginning
Azariah Becomes King of Judah
15 Amaziah’s son Azariah began reigning during the twenty-seventh year of the reign of[a] Jeroboam, king of Israel. 2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was[b] from Jerusalem. 3 He did what the Lord considered to be right, just as his father Amaziah had done in everything, 4 except that the high places were never removed, and the people kept on sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.
5 The Lord struck the king so that he was afflicted with leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house while his son Jotham managed the household and ruled[c] the people who lived in the land. 6 Now the rest of Azariah’s activities, including everything he did, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? 7 Later, Azariah died, as had[d] his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham then reigned in his place.
Zachariah’s Reign over Israel
8 During the thirty-eighth year of the reign of[e] Azariah, king of Judah, Jeroboam’s son Zachariah began a six-month reign in Samaria. 9 He did what the Lord considered to be evil, just as his ancestors had done. He never abandoned the sins of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin. 10 So Jabesh’s son Shallum conspired against him and attacked him in full view of the people, killed him, and reigned in his place. 11 The rest of Zachariah’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Shallum’s Reign over Israel
12 This is what the Lord told Jehu: “Your children will sit on Israel’s throne for the next four generations.”[f] And that is what happened:[g] 13 Jabesh’s son Shallum began his reign in the thirty-ninth year of the reign of Uzziah,[h] king of Judah. He reigned a full month[i] in Samaria, 14 then Gadi’s son Menahem approached Samaria from Tirzah and attacked Jabesh’s son Shallum, executed him, and reigned in his place. 15 The rest of Shallum’s activities, including the conspiracy that he carried out, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not?
Menahem’s Reign over Israel
16 At another time, Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all of its inhabitants, including its coastlands from Tirzah, because they would not open the city gate for him. After defeating them, he ripped open all of their pregnant women. 17 In the thirty-ninth year of the reign of[j] Azariah, king of Judah, Gadi’s son Menahem began a ten-year reign over Israel from Samaria. 18 He did what the Lord considered to be evil by never abandoning the sins of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, as long as he lived.
19 Later on, King Pul of Aram attacked the land, and Menahem paid Pul 1,000 silver talents[k] so Pul[l] would join forces with Menahem[m] to secure his hold on the kingdom. 20 Menahem exacted the money from all of Israel’s powerful and wealthy men, 50 shekels[n] from each, to pay the king of Aram. As a result, the king of Aram retreated and did not remain there in the land. 21 The rest of Menahem’s activities, including everything that he did, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not? 22 Then Menahem died, as did[o] his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his place.
Pekahiah’s Reign over Israel
23 Menahem’s son Pekahiah became king over Israel for two years during the fiftieth year of the reign of[p] King Azariah of Judah. 24 He did what the Lord considered to be evil. Just as Nebat’s son Jeroboam had led Israel into sin, so also Pekahiah did not stop doing the same thing. 25 Then Remaliah’s son Pekah, Pekahiah’s[q] officer, conspired against him with Argob and Arieh. Accompanied by 50 Gileadite men, Pekah attacked Pekahiah inside the palace of the king’s compound[r] in Samaria, executed him, and reigned as king in his place. 26 The rest of Pekahiah’s activities, including everything he did, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Pekah’s Reign over Israel
27 Remaliah’s son Pekah began a 20-year reign as Israel’s king during the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah. 28 He did what the Lord considered to be evil by never abandoning the sins of Nebat’s son Jeroboam, by which he caused Israel to sin. 29 During the lifetime of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali, and carried its people off to Assyria. 30 So during the twentieth year of the reign of[s] Uzziah’s son Jotham, Elah’s son Hoshea conspired against Remaliah’s son Pekah, attacked him, executed him, and became king in his place. 31 The rest of Pekah’s activities, including everything that he accomplished, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Jotham’s Reign over Judah
32 Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah during the second year of the reign of[t] Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel. 33 He was 25 years old when he became king. He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. Zadok’s daughter Jerusha was his mother. 34 He did what the Lord considered to be right, following everything his father Uzziah had done, 35 except the high places were not torn down, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. But he rebuilt the upper gate of the Lord’s Temple. 36 The rest of Jotham’s activities, including everything that he accomplished, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?
37 Right about that time, the Lord began to send King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah against Judah. 38 Meanwhile, Jotham died, as did[u] his ancestors, and was buried with them[v] in the City of David, his ancestor. Then Jotham’s son Ahaz reigned in his place.
Ahaz Becomes King of Judah
16 During the seventeenth year of the reign of[w] Remaliah’s son Pekah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king of Judah. 2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not practice what the Lord considered to be right, as had his ancestor David. 3 Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the Lord evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis. 4 Furthermore, Ahaz[x] sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.
Ahaz Seeks Help from Assyria(A)
5 Later, King Rezin of Aram and Remaliah’s son Pekah, king of Israel, approached Jerusalem to attack it. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 But at that time, King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, completely removing the Judeans from Elath. Then the Arameans returned to Elath and have remained there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, “I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Lord’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria, 9 so the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus, captured it, sent its people away into exile to Kir, and executed Rezin.
King Ahaz Constructs a Pagan Altar(B)
10 King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. 11 Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he[y] approached it and offered sacrifices on it. 13 He presented a burnt offering, a meat offering, poured out a drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of a peace offering on his altar. 14 Then he took the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from in front of the Temple, moved it to the north side of his altar, 15 and issued these orders to Uriah the priest:
“Burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering on behalf of all the people of the land on the large altar. And sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and from the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask God questions.”
16 So Uriah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered. 17 Later, King Ahaz ordered the side panels removed from the bases, along with the washing bowls that had stood on top of the bases. He also removed the large bowl that was called the Sea from on top of the bronze bulls that supported it, and put it on a stone base. 18 Then Ahaz removed the covered walkway for use on the Sabbath that they had built in the Temple. Because of the king of Assyria, he also removed the outside entrance from the Lord’s Temple that had been built exclusively[z] for the king.
19 Now the rest of Ahaz’s activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? 20 Later, Ahaz died, as did[aa] his ancestors, and was buried alongside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Israel Falls to Assyria during Hoshea’s Reign
17 During the twelfth year of the reign of[ab] King Ahaz of Judah, Elah’s son Hoshea became king over Israel for nine years in Samaria. 2 He practiced what the Lord considered to be evil,[ac] though not like the kings of Israel who had preceded him. 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid tribute to him. 4 But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy involving Hoshea, who had sent envoys to King So of Egypt and stopped offering tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done annually. As a result, the king of Assyria placed him under arrest and sent him to prison. 5 After this, the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, approached Samaria, and began a three year siege. 6 As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of[ad] Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.
The Idolatry of the Northern Kingdom
7 This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination[ae] of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because[af] they were fearing other gods, 8 and because they were following[ag] the rules of the nations whom the Lord had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
9 The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the Lord their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. 10 They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, 11 where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the Lord had expelled before them. They also practiced other[ah] wickedness, provoking the Lord to become angry, 12 and they served idols, a practice that the Lord had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
13 Nevertheless, the Lord had warned both Israel and Judah by means[ai] of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices[aj] and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn,[ak] just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected the Lord’s[al] statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves—as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the Lord had warned them not to do.
16 They abandoned all of the commands given by[am] the Lord their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the Lord considered to be evil, thereby[an] provoking him. 18 As a result, the Lord was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.
19 But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle[ao] that Israel had chosen, 20 so the Lord rejected all of the descendants[ap] of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence.[aq] 21 He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people[ar] appointed Nebat’s son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit great sin.
22 The Israelis practiced[as] all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them 23 until the Lord removed Israel from his presence,[at] just as he had warned through[au] all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.[av]
Assyria Supplants the Northern Kingdom
24 Because the king of Assyria brought captives[aw] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers[ax] possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 When they first began to live there, the settlers[ay] did not fear the Lord, so he sent lions among them, and they killed a few of them. 26 As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, “Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law[az] of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions[ba] are killing them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land!”
27 So the king of Assyria[bb] issued this order: “Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the Lord.
Assyrian Settlers Create Lasting Corruption
29 Nevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed—every nation in their own cities where they continued to live. 30 Settlers[bc] from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers[bd] from Cuth built Nergal, settlers[be] from Hamath built Ashima, 31 and settlers[bf] from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.
32 Because they feared the Lord, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places. 33 While they continued to fear the Lord, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there. 34 To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don’t fear the Lord and they don’t live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the Lord had given to the descendants of Jacob—whom he renamed Israel— 35 and with whom the Lord had made a covenant when he gave these[bg] orders to them:
“You are not to fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. 36 Instead, it is to be the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, showing great power and public demonstrations of might,[bh] whom you are to fear, worship, and to whom you are to offer sacrifice. 37 Furthermore, you are to be careful to observe forever the statutes, ordinances, law, and the commandment that he wrote for you. And you are not to fear other gods. 38 You are not to forget the covenant that I’ve made with you, and you are not to fear other gods. 39 But you are to fear the Lord, and he will deliver you from the control[bi] of all your enemies.”
40 But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they did what they had been doing before. 41 These nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their descendants did the same thing, as did their grandchildren. Just as their ancestors had done, they also do the same thing to this day.
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