Beginning

15 It was in the twenty-seventh year of Yarov‘am king of Isra’el that ‘Azaryah the son of Amatzyah, king of Y’hudah, began his reign. ² He was sixteen years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’kholyahu, from Yerushalayim. ³ He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father Amatzyah had done. ⁴ However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and offered on the high places.

⁵ Adonai struck the king, so that he had tzara‘at until his dying day, so that he lived in a separate house, while Yotam the king’s son ran the king’s household and was regent over the people of the land.

⁶ Other activities of ‘Azaryah and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ⁷ So ‘Azaryah slept with his ancestors the kings of Isra’el, and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. Then Yotam his son took his place as king.

⁸ It was in the thirty-eighth year of ‘Azaryah king of Y’hudah that Z’kharyah the son of Yarov‘am began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for six months. ⁹ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, just as his ancestors had done; he did not turn from all the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin.

¹⁰ Shalum the son of Yavesh formed a conspiracy against him. He struck him in the presence of the people and killed him; then he took his place as king.

¹¹ Other activities of Z’kharyah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ¹² The word of Adonai which he had spoken to Yehu was, “Your descendants down to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Isra’el”; and that is exactly what happened.

¹³ Shalum the son of Yavesh began his reign in the thirty-ninth year of ‘Uziyah king of Y’hudah; he ruled in Shomron for only a month. ¹⁴ Menachem the son of Gadi went up from Tirtzah, came to Shomron, struck Shalum the son of Yavesh in Shomron and killed him. Then he took his place as king.

¹⁵ Other activities of Shalum and the conspiracy he formed are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el

¹⁶ From Tirtzah Menachem attacked Tifsach, all the people in it and its territory, because they had not opened their gates to him. So he sacked the city and ripped apart all its pregnant women.

¹⁷ It was in the thirty-ninth year of ‘Azaryah king of Y’hudah that Menachem the son of Gadi began his reign over Isra’el; he ruled ten years in Shomron. ¹⁸ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; throughout his life he did not turn from the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin.

¹⁹ Pul the king of Ashur invaded the land. Menachem gave Pul thirty-three tons of silver, so that he would confirm Menachem’s hold on the kingdom. ²⁰ He did this by taxing the wealthy men in Isra’el; from each he required one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver to give to the king of Ashur. Then the king of Ashur turned around and left the land.

²¹ Other activities of Menachem and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el. ²² Menachem slept with his ancestors, and P’kachyah his son took his place as king.

²³ It was in the fiftieth year of ‘Azaryah king of Y’hudah that P’kachyah the son of Menachem began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for two years. ²⁴ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; he did not turn from the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin.

²⁵ Pekach the son of Remalyahu, one of his commanders, conspired against him. With Argov, Aryeh and fifty men from Gil‘ad, he assassinated him in the palace stronghold in Shomron. After killing him, he took his place as king.

²⁶ Other activities of P’kachyah and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

²⁷ It was in the fifty-second year of ‘Azaryah king of Y’hudah that Pekach the son of Remalyah began to reign over Isra’el in Shomron; his reign lasted twenty years. ²⁸ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; he did not turn from the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who made Isra’el sin.

²⁹ During the time of Pekach king of Isra’el, Tiglat-Pil’eser king of Ashur came and conquered ‘Iyon, Avel-Beit-Ma‘akhah, Yanoach, Kedesh, Hatzor, Gil‘ad, and the Galil — all the land of Naftali — and took them captive to Ashur.

³⁰ Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against Pekach the son of Remalyah, struck him, killed him and took his place as king in the twentieth year of Yotam the son of ‘Uziyah.

³¹ Other activities of Pekach and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

³² It was in the second year of Pekach the son of Remalyah, king of Isra’el, that Yotam the son of ‘Uziyah king of Y’hudah began his reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for sixteen years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Yerusha the daughter of Tzadok. ³⁴ He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father ‘Uziyah had done. ³⁵ However, the high places were not taken away; and the people still sacrificed and offered on the high places.

He built the Upper Gate of the house of Adonai.

³⁶ Other activities of Yotam and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

³⁷ It was during this period that Adonai began sending against Y’hudah Retzin the king of Aram and Pekach the son of Remalyah.

³⁸ Yotam slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his ancestor. Then Achaz his son took his place as king.

16 It was in the seventeenth year of Pekach the son of Remalyah that Achaz the son of Yotam king of Y’hudah began his reign. ² Achaz was twenty years old when he began to rule, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was right from the perspective of Adonai his God, as David his ancestor had done. ³ Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra’el; he even made his son pass through fire [as a sacrifice], in keeping with the abominable practices of the pagans, whom Adonai had thrown out ahead of the people of Isra’el. ⁴ He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

⁵ Then Retzin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyah, king of Isra’el, came up to fight against Yerushalayim. They put Achaz under siege, but they could not overcome him. ⁶ It was at that time that Retzin king of Aram recovered Eilat for Aram and drove the Judeans from Eilat; whereupon people from Edom came to Eilat to live, as they do to this day. ⁷ Then Achaz sent messengers to Tiglat-Pil’eser king of Ashur with this message: “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and save me from the king of Aram and the king of Isra’el, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Achaz took the silver and gold that was in the house of Adonai and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a present to the king of Ashur. ⁹ The king of Ashur heeded him — the king of Ashur attacked Dammesek and captured it; then he carried its people captive to Kir and killed Retzin.

¹⁰ When King Achaz went to Dammesek to meet Tiglat-Pil’eser king of Ashur and saw the altar that was in Dammesek, he sent a drawing and model of the altar to Uriyah the cohen, with details of its construction and decoration. ¹¹ Then Uriyah the cohen built an altar exactly according to the design King Achaz had sent from Dammesek; Uriyah the cohen had it ready by the time King Achaz returned from Dammesek. ¹² When the king arrived from Dammesek he saw the altar, and the king approached the altar and offered on it. ¹³ He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ The bronze altar, which was before Adonai, he brought from in front of the house, from between his own altar and the house of Adonai, and put it on the north side of his own altar. ¹⁵ Then King Achaz instructed Uriyah the cohen as follows: “Henceforth, it is on the large altar that you are to offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, together with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering and their drink offerings; and you are to splash all the blood of the burnt offering against it and all the blood of the sacrifice. As for the bronze altar, I will take care of that.” ¹⁶ Uriyah the cohen acted in accordance with everything King Achaz ordered. ¹⁷ King Achaz removed the panels of the trolleys and took the basins off them; he took the Sea off the bronze oxen supporting it and set it on the stone pavement; ¹⁸ and, because of the king of Ashur, he removed from the house of Adonai the colonnade used on Shabbat that had been built for it and the king’s entranceway outside it.

¹⁹ Other activities of Achaz and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ²⁰ Achaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then Hizkiyahu his son took his place as king.

17 It was in the twelfth year of Achaz king of Y’hudah that Hoshea the son of Elah began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for nine years. ² He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, although he wasn’t as bad as the kings of Isra’el who had preceded him.

³ Shalman’eser king of Ashur advanced against Hoshea, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Ashur found that Hoshea was conspiring [against him] — he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt and not paid his tribute to the king of Ashur, as he had previously done every year. For this the king of Ashur imprisoned him, putting him in chains. ⁵ Then the king of Ashur invaded all the land, advanced on Shomron and put it under siege for three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Ashur captured Shomron. He carried Isra’el away captive to Ashur, resettling them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ This came about because the people of Isra’el had sinned against Adonai their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out from under the domination of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They feared other gods ⁸ and lived by the customs of the nations that Adonai had expelled ahead of the people of Isra’el and by those of the kings of Isra’el. ⁹ The people of Isra’el secretly did things that were not right, according to Adonai their God. They built high places for themselves wherever they lived, from the watchtower to the fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up standing-stones and sacred poles for themselves on any high hill and under any green tree. ¹¹ Then they would make offerings on all the high places, like the nations Adonai had expelled ahead of them, and would do wicked things to provoke the anger of Adonai; ¹² moreover, they served idols, something Adonai had expressly told them not to do. ¹³ Adonai had warned Isra’el and Y’hudah in advance through every prophet and seer, “Turn from your evil ways; and obey my mitzvot and regulations, in accordance with the entire Torah which I ordered your ancestors to keep and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless, they refused to listen but made themselves as stubborn as their ancestors, who did not put their trust in Adonai their God. ¹⁵ Thus they rejected his laws; his covenant, which he had made with their ancestors; and the solemn warnings he had given them. Instead they pursued worthless things and became worthless themselves, imitating the nations around them, whom Adonai had ordered them not to emulate. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the mitzvot of Adonai their God. They made cast metal images for themselves, two calves. They made an asherah. They worshipped the whole army of heaven. They served Ba‘al. ¹⁷ They had their sons and daughters pass through fire [as a sacrifice]. They used divination and magic spells. And they gave themselves over to do what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, thereby provoking him; ¹⁸ so that Adonai, by now very angry with Isra’el, removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Y’hudah alone. ¹⁹ (However, neither did Y’hudah obey the mitzvot of Adonai their God; rather they lived according to the customs of Isra’el.)

²⁰ Yes, Adonai came to despise all the descendants of Isra’el. He caused them trouble and handed them over to plunderers, until finally he threw them out of his sight. ²¹ He tore Isra’el away from the house of David. They made Yarov‘am the son of N’vat king; and Yarov‘am drew Isra’el away from following Adonai and made them commit a great sin. ²² The people of Isra’el followed the example of all the sins that Yarov‘am had committed and did not turn away from them, ²³ until Adonai removed Isra’el out of his sight, as he had said he would through all his servants the prophets. Thus Isra’el was carried away captive from their own land to Ashur, and it remains so to this day.

²⁴ The king of Ashur brought people from Bavel, Kutah, ‘Ava, Hamat and S’farvayim and settled them in the cities of Shomron in place of the people of Isra’el; they took possession of Shomron and lived in its cities. ²⁵ When they first came to live there, they did not fear Adonai. Therefore Adonai sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So they said to the king of Ashur, “The nations you carried away and settled in the cities of Shomron are not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and they are there, killing them; because they’re not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land.” ²⁷ In response, the king of Ashur gave this order: “Take back one of the cohanim you brought from there. Have him go and live there, and have him teach them the rules for worshipping the God of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the cohanim they had carried away captive from Shomron came and lived in Beit-El, and he taught them how they should fear Adonai.

²⁹ Nevertheless, every nation made gods of their own and put them in the temples on the high places which the Shomronim had made, every nation in the cities where they lived. ³⁰ Thus the people from Bavel made Sukkot-B’not, those from Kutah made Nergal, those from Hamat made Ashima, ³¹ the ‘Avim made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the S’farvim burned up their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adramelekh and ‘Anamelekh the gods of S’farvayim. ³² So they feared Adonai, while at the same time they appointed for themselves priests from among themselves to preside at the high places, and they would sacrifice for them in the temples on the high places. ³³ They both feared Adonai and served their own gods in the manner customary among the nations from which they had been taken away. ³⁴ To this day they continue to follow their former [pagan] customs. They do not fear Adonai. They do not follow the regulations, rulings, Torah or mitzvah which Adonai ordered the descendants of Ya‘akov, to whom he gave the name Isra’el, ³⁵ with whom Adonai had made a covenant and charged them, “Do not fear other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. ³⁶ On the contrary, you are to fear Adonai, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. Worship him, and sacrifice to him. ³⁷ You are to observe forever the laws, rulings, Torah and mitzvah which he wrote for you. You are not to fear other gods, ³⁸ and you are not to forget the covenant I made with you. No, you must not fear other gods ³⁹ but must fear Adonai your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However, they didn’t listen, but followed their old [pagan] practices. ⁴¹ So these nations mixed fearing Adonai with serving their carved idols; likewise their children; and to this day, their descendants do the same as their ancestors did.