Beginning
15 During the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah (Amaziah’s son) inherited the throne of Judah. 2 Azariah was only 16 years old when he inherited the throne, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted 52 years. His mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 3 He did what was good in the Eternal’s eyes and followed in the footsteps of his father, Amaziah.
4 But the high places remained. They were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. 5 Sadly, the Eternal One afflicted the king with a skin disease until his dying day. He lived in a quarantined house so that he would not make anyone else ritually unclean; and his son, Jotham, took care of Azariah’s household and acted as judge over all the people in Judah.
6 Is not the rest of Azariah’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? 7 Azariah left this world to sleep with his fathers, and his body was laid to rest with his ancestors in the city of David, as was tradition. Azariah’s son, Jotham, then inherited the throne.
8 During Azariah’s 38th year as king of Judah, Zechariah (Jeroboam’s son) inherited the throne of Israel in Samaria. His reign only lasted six months. 9 He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes, just as those who reigned before him did. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) causing the Israelites to live sinful lives. 10 Shallum (Jabesh’s son) plotted against Zechariah and assassinated him in front of everyone. Shallum then inherited the throne.
11 Is not the rest of Zechariah’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings?
12 This is the promise that the Eternal One had given to Jehu: “Your sons, until the fourth generation, will reign over Israel.” And that is exactly what happened.
The Eternal One keeps His promise. Four generations after Jehu ruled—Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam, and Zechariah—Jabesh’s son ends the dynasty.
13 Shallum (Jabesh’s son) took over the throne during the 39th year of Uzziah (also known as Azariah), Judah’s king. Shallum’s reign lasted one month in Samaria. 14 Menahem (Gadi’s son) arrived in Samaria from Tirzah and assassinated Shallum (Jabesh’s son). Menahem then inherited the throne. 15 Is not the rest of Shallum’s story—including the coup he planned—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings?
16 Menahem then attacked Tiphsah and everyone who was living there, all the way to Tirzah. He savagely attacked them because they would not let him in. He, in a nightmarish act, tore apart every pregnant woman he could find.
17 During Azariah’s 39th year as Judah’s king, Menahem (Gadi’s son) took over Israel’s throne in Samaria. His reign lasted 10 years. 18 He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) causing the Israelites to live sinful lives.
19 Tiglath-pileser,[a] Assyria’s king, waged war against Israel, but Menahem tried to pay tribute with 37 tons of silver so that Tiglath-pileser would help make Menahem’s rule stronger and save Israel from invasion. 20 Menahem gathered the money from all the rich people in Israel. He took 20 ounces of silver from each person and gave it to the Assyrian king. After he had received all the money, the Assyrian king went back to Assyria.
Tiglath-pileser III is one of Assyria’s strongest kings. After seizing the throne during a civil war in 745 b.c., he sets out on a wildly successful campaign, enlarging Assyria’s sphere of influence from the northern part of the Northern Kingdom all the way to Babylon. As Assyria grows, its army grows because Tiglath-pileser incorporates the conquered people into his army. He cannot be stopped. He lays the groundwork for his son, Shalmaneser V, who will continue campaigning and actually conquer the Northern Kingdom, deporting Israelites to other parts of the Assyrian Empire.
21 Is not the rest of Menahem’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings? 22 Menahem left this world to sleep with his fathers. Menahem’s son, Pekahiah, then inherited the throne.
23 During Azariah’s 50th year as king of Judah, Pekahiah (Menahem’s son) inherited the throne of Israel in Samaria, and his reign only lasted two years. 24 He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), causing the Israelites to live sinful lives. 25 Pekah (Remaliah’s son), one of Pekahiah’s officials, plotted against him in secret and killed him in Samaria, along with two of Pekahiah’s loyal bodyguards, Argob and Arieh. The killings took place in the palace citadel. The conspirator, Pekah, was joined by 50 Gileadites in his assassination of the king and two of his bodyguards. Pekah then took over the throne. 26 Is not the rest of Pekahiah’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings?
27 During Azariah’s 52nd year as king of Judah, Pekah (Remaliah’s son) inherited Israel’s throne in Samaria. His reign lasted 20 years. 28 He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He walked the wicked path of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) causing the Israelites to live sinful lives.
29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, took possession of Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all of Naphtali; and he also took the inhabitants as captives and deported them to Assyria. 30 Hoshea (Elah’s son) secretly plotted against Pekah (Remaliah’s son) and assasinated him. Hoshea then took over the throne during the 20th year of the reign of Jotham (son of Azariah who was also known as Uzziah) in Judah.
31 Is not the rest of Pekah’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Israel’s kings?
32 During the second year of Pekah (Remaliah’s son) the king in Israel, Jotham (son of Azariah who was also known as Uzziah) inherited the throne of Judah. 33 Jotham was 25 years old when he inherited the throne. His reign in Jerusalem lasted 16 years. His mother was Jerusha (Zadok’s daughter). 34 He did what was good in the Eternal’s eyes and followed the example of his father, Uzziah. 35 But the high places remained, though Jotham did not support them. Sacrifices were still offered and incense was still burned there by the people. He also constructed the upper gate of the Eternal’s house.
36 Is not the rest of Jotham’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? 37 During that time, the Eternal One dispatched Rezin (Aram’s king) and Pekah (Remaliah’s son) from Israel to wage war against Judah. 38 Jotham left this world to sleep with his fathers and was laid to rest in the city of David. His son, Ahaz, then inherited the throne.
16 During the 17th year of the reign of Pekah (Remaliah’s son) as king of Israel, Ahaz (Jotham’s son) inherited the throne in Judah. 2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he inherited the throne, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted 16 years. He did not do what was good in the eyes of the Eternal, his True God, unlike his ancestor, David. 3 He walked the wicked path of Israel’s kings, and he even made his own son go through the fire as a child sacrifice. He did this, modeling the abhorrent practices of nations whom the Eternal had exiled to make way for the Israelites. 4 He also offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on hills, and beneath every green tree.
5 Then Rezin, Aram’s king, and Pekah (Remaliah’s son and king of Israel) approached Jerusalem with one thing in mind—war.
Their goal is to get Judah to join them in an alliance against Assyria. This is known as the Syro-Ephraimite War.
They laid siege to Ahaz but were unsuccessful in defeating him. 6 Rezin, Aram’s king, brought Elath back into Aram’s possession. He drove out the Judeans who lived there. Arameans moved back to Elath and still live there today.
7 Ahaz dispatched messengers to Tiglath-pileser, Assyria’s king.
Ahaz: I am your servant and your son. I need your help now. Please rescue me from the grip of Aram’s king and Israel’s king. They are swarming against me at this very moment.
8 Ahaz then gathered up all the silver and gold in the Eternal’s temple and in the palace treasuries, and he gave it to Assyria’s king as a gift. 9 Assyria’s king received the gift and listened to the message. He responded by attacking and capturing Damascus, the capital of Aram. He exiled the inhabitants of Damascus to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
10 King Ahaz traveled to Damascus to meet with Assyria’s king, Tiglath-pileser. There he laid eyes upon the altar in Damascus so he sent renderings of the altar—its patterns and design—to the priest Urijah.
Ahaz is enamored with the Syrian altar and its design. He wants to build something just like it for the temple, possibly because the bronze altar at the Jerusalem temple is too small (1 Kings 8:64).
11 Urijah the priest then constructed an altar from the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Urijah made it an exact likeness, and he completed it before Ahaz returned from Damascus.
12 After his return from Damascus, Ahaz saw the new altar Urijah had constructed, walked up to it, and offered 13 burnt offerings, meal offerings, and drink offerings and anointed the altar with blood from the peace offerings as Solomon had done when he dedicated the first bronze altar. 14 He carried the bronze altar from the entryway of the temple to the north side of the new altar, so that it remained before the Eternal One.
Ahaz (to Urijah the priest): 15 Use the new and magnificent altar for both my offerings and the people’s offerings. The morning burnt offering and evening meal offering and the king’s burnt offering and meal offering, as well as the people’s burnt offering and meal offering and drink offerings, can go on the new altar, anointed with the blood of the burnt offering and sacrifice; but the bronze altar is only for me to pray. The people cannot use it ever.
16 Urijah the priest followed all of King Ahaz’s instructions.
17 Then King Ahaz severed the edges of the stands and took out the basins. He removed the basin from the bronze oxen beneath it and set it on a stone platform. 18 He also took out the Sabbath canopy that was constructed in the Eternal One’s temple and the outer entryway for the king because of Assyria’s king. 19 Is not the rest of Ahaz’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? 20 Ahaz left this world to sleep with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David, as was tradition. His son, Hezekiah, then inherited the throne.
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!”[b]
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.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.