Beginning

15 ¶ In the year twenty-seven of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

² He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.

³ And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

⁴ But with all this, the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

⁵ And the LORD smote the king so that he was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham, the king’s son, was over the house, judging the people of the land.

⁶ And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁷ So Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Jotham, his son, reigned in his stead.

⁸ ¶ In the year thirty-eight of Azariah, king of Judah, Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in Samaria six months.

⁹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

¹⁰ And Shallum, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him, and smote him before the people and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

¹¹ And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹² This was the word of the LORD which he spoke unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.

¹³ Shallum, the son of Jabesh, began to reign in the year thirty-nine of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.

¹⁴ For Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria and smote Shallum, the son of Jabesh, in Samaria and slew him and reigned in his stead.

¹⁵ And the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Then Menahem smote Tiphsah and all that were therein and the borders thereof from Tirzah because they had not opened to him, therefore, he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.

¹⁷ In the year thirty-nine of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, began to reign over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria.

¹⁸ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

¹⁹ And Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

²⁰ And Menahem exacted the money upon Israel, from all the mighty men of virtue, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.

²¹ And the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²² And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

²³ In the year fifty of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned two years.

²⁴ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

²⁵ But Pekah, the son of Remaliah a captain of his, conspired against him and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh and with him fifty men of the sons of Gilead; and he killed him and reigned in his place.

²⁶ And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

²⁷ In the year fifty-two of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned twenty years.

²⁸ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon, Abelbethmaachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali and carried them captive to Assyria.

³⁰ And Hosea, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him and slew him and reigned in his stead, in the year twenty of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.

³¹ And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

³² ¶ In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

³⁴ And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

³⁵ With all this, the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.

³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁷ In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin, the king of Syria and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.

³⁸ And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father; and Ahaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

16 ¶ In the year seventeen of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.

² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem and did not do that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God like David, his father.

³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the Gentiles, whom the LORD cast out from before the sons of Israel.

⁴ Likewise he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵ ¶ Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.

⁶ At that time Rezin, king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am thy slave and thy son; come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me.

⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king’s house and sent it for a bribe to the king of Assyria.

⁹ And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it and carried the people of it captive to Kir and slew Rezin.

¹⁰ ¶ And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser, King of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah, the priest, the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it.

¹¹ And Urijah, the priest, built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah, the priest, made it while King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

¹² And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar and offered upon it.

¹³ And he burnt his burnt offering and his present and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, next to the altar.

¹⁴ And the brasen altar which had been before the LORD, he caused to be moved in front of the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and he put it beside the altar towards the Aquilon.

¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Urijah, the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening present and the king’s burnt sacrifice and his present, and likewise the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their present and their drink offerings, and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice; and the brasen altar shall be mine to enquire by.

¹⁶ Thus did Urijah, the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded him.

¹⁷ ¶ And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases and removed the lavers from off them and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it and put it upon a pavement of stones.

¹⁸ And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s entry outside, he moved behind the house of the LORD, for the sake of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

17 ¶ In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

² And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

³ Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hosea became his slave and gave him presents.

⁴ And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present 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.

⁵ Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.

⁶ In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ ¶ For so it was that the sons 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 had feared other gods

⁸ and walked in the statutes of the Gentiles, whom the LORD had cast out from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

⁹ And the sons of Israel had secretly done those things that were not right against the LORD their God, building themselves high places in all their cities, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced cities.

¹⁰ And they had set themselves up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree;

¹¹ and there they burnt incense in all the high places like the Gentiles, whom the LORD had carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

¹² serving idols, of which the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this.

¹³ Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, 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 the hand of my slaves the prophets.

¹⁴ Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, who had never believed in the LORD their God.

¹⁵ And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimonies which he testified against them, and they followed vanity and became vain and went after the Gentiles that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

¹⁶ And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made groves and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal;

¹⁷ and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and 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 out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

¹⁹ But not even Judah kept the commandments of the LORD their God; to the contrary, they walked in the statutes of Israel which they themselves had made.

²⁰ And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers until he had cast them out of his presence.

²¹ For he rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.

²² For the sons 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, as he had said by all his slaves the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

²⁴ ¶ And the king of Assyria brought Gentiles from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.

²⁵ And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the LORD; therefore, the LORD sent lions against them, which slew some of them.

²⁶ Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The Gentiles, which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the judgment of the God of that land; therefore, he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land.

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there; and let them go and dwell there and teach them the judgment 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 each nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which those of Samaria had made, each nation in their city in which they dwelt.

³⁰ And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

³¹ and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

³² So they feared the LORD and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

³³ They feared the LORD and served their own gods after the manner of the gentiles whom they carried away from there.

³⁴ Unto this day they do after the former manners; they do not fear the LORD, neither do they keep his statutes nor his ordinances nor the law and the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel,

³⁵ with whom the LORD had made a covenant and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,

³⁶ but only the LORD your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

³⁷ And the statutes and rights and the law and the commandments, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do every day; and ye shall not fear other gods.

³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

³⁹ But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

⁴⁰ Howbeit they did not hearken; to the contrary they did after their former manner.

⁴¹ So these Gentiles feared the LORD and served their graven images, and likewise their sons and their grandsons; as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.