Chronological

Ahaz King of Judah

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. And he ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. He was not like his ancestor David. He did not do what the Lord said was right. ² Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He made metal idols to worship Baal. ³ He burned incense in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his own sons by burning them in the fire. He did the same terrible sins as the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where false gods were worshiped. And he did this on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵ So the Lord his God let the king of Aram defeat Ahaz. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners. The Arameans took them to Damascus.

The Lord also let Pekah king of Israel defeat Ahaz. Pekah’s army killed many soldiers of Ahaz. ⁶ Pekah was the son of Remaliah. Pekah’s army killed 120,000 brave soldiers from Judah in one day. Pekah defeated them because they had left the Lord. He is the God their ancestors obeyed. ⁷ Zicri was a warrior from Ephraim. He killed King Ahaz’s son Maaseiah. He also killed Azrikam, the officer in charge of the palace and Elkanah, second in command to the king. ⁸ The Israelite army captured 200,000 of their own relatives. They took women, sons and daughters and many valuable things from Judah. Then they carried them back to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He met the Israelite army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “The Lord is the God your ancestors obeyed. He let you defeat Judah because he was angry with those people. But God has seen the cruel way you killed them. ¹⁰ Now you plan to make the people of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But you also have sinned against the Lord your God. ¹¹ Now listen to me. Send back your brothers and sisters whom you captured. Do this because the Lord is very angry with you.”

¹² Then some of the leaders in Israel met the Israelite soldiers coming home from war. These leaders were Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai. ¹³ They warned the soldiers, “Don’t bring the prisoners from Judah here. If you do, we will be guilty of sin. That will make our sin and guilt even worse. And our guilt is already so much that the Lord is angry with Israel.”

¹⁴ So the soldiers left the prisoners and valuable things in front of the officers and people there. ¹⁵ The leaders who were named took the prisoners. These four men got the clothes that the Israelite army had taken. And they gave them to these people who were naked. They gave the prisoners clothes, sandals, food, drink and medicine. They put the weak prisoners on donkeys. Then they took them back to their families in Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned home to Samaria.

^16-17 At that same time the Edomites came again. They attacked Judah and carried away prisoners. So King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. ¹⁸ The Philistines also robbed the towns in the western mountain slopes and in southern Judah. They captured the towns of Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah and Gimzo. They also captured the villages around them. Then the Philistines lived in those towns. ¹⁹ The Lord brought trouble on Judah because of Ahaz their king. Ahaz had caused the people of Judah to sin. And he had been unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰ Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz. But he gave Ahaz trouble instead of help. ²¹ Ahaz took some valuable things from the Temple of the Lord. He also took some from the king’s palace and from the princes. Ahaz gave them to the king of Assyria, but it did not help.

²² In Ahaz’s troubles he was even more unfaithful to the Lord. ²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods the people of Damascus worshiped. These people had defeated him. So he thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them. If I offer sacrifices to them, they will help me also.” But this brought ruin to Ahaz and all Israel.

²⁴ Ahaz gathered the things from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. Then he closed the doors of the Temple of the Lord. He made altars and put them on every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every town in Judah, Ahaz made places for burning sacrifices to worship other gods. He made the Lord, the God his ancestors worshiped, very angry.

²⁶ The other things Ahaz did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Ahaz died and was buried in the city of Jerusalem. But he was not buried in the graves of the kings of Israel. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king in his place.

Ahaz King of Judah

16 Ahaz was the son of Jotham king of Judah. Ahaz became king of Judah in the seventeenth year Pekah was king of Israel. Pekah was the son of Remaliah. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. He was not like his ancestor David. He did not do what the Lord his God said was right. ³ Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He even sacrificed his sons by burning them in the fire. He did the same hated sins as the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where false gods were worshiped. And he did this on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵ Rezin king of Aram and Pekah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to attack it. (Pekah was the son of Remaliah.) They surrounded Ahaz but could not defeat him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram took back the city of Elath for Aram. He forced out all the people of Judah. Then Edomites moved into Elath. And they still live there today.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. Ahaz said, “I am your servant. Come and save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel. They are attacking me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the Temple of the Lord. He also took the treasuries of the palace. He sent these as a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz. He attacked Damascus and captured it. Then he sent all the people of Damascus to Kir. And he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar at Damascus. He sent plans and a pattern of this altar to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built an altar. It was just like the plans King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus. Uriah finished the altar before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. ¹² When the king arrived from Damascus, he saw the altar. He went near and offered sacrifices on it. ¹³ He burned his burnt offerings and grain offerings. He poured out his drink offering. He also sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar.

¹⁴ Ahaz moved the bronze altar that was before the Lord at the front of the Temple. It was between Ahaz’s altar and the Temple of the Lord. He put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ King Ahaz gave a command to Uriah the priest. Ahaz said, “Burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering on the large altar. Also offer the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering. Offer the whole burnt offering for all the people of the land. And offer their grain offering and drink offering. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and of the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask questions of God.” ¹⁶ Uriah the priest did everything King Ahaz commanded him to do.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz took off the side panels from the bases. He took the washing bowls off the top of the bases. He also took the large bowl, which was called the Sea, off the bronze bulls that held it up. And he put it on a stone base. ¹⁸ Ahaz took away the platform for the royal throne. It had been built at the Temple. He also took away the outside entrance for the king. He did these things because of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ The other things Ahaz did as king are written down. They are in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. ²⁰ Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king in his place.

Hoshea, Last King of Israel

17 Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. This was during Ahaz’s twelfth year as king of Judah. Hoshea ruled in Samaria nine years. ² He did what the Lord said was wrong. But he was not as bad as the kings of Israel who had ruled before him.

³ Shalmaneser king of Assyria came to attack Hoshea. Hoshea had been Shalmaneser’s servant. He had made the payments to Shalmaneser that he had demanded. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found out that Hoshea had made plans against him. Hoshea had sent messengers to So, the king of Egypt. And Hoshea had quit giving Shalmaneser the payments he demanded. In the past Hoshea had paid him every year. So the king put Hoshea in prison. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria came and attacked all the land of Israel. He surrounded Samaria and attacked it for three years. ⁶ He defeated Samaria in the ninth year Hoshea was king. He took the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled some of them in Halah. Some were made to settle in Gozan on the Habor River. Others were settled in the cities of the Medes.

Israelites Punished for Sin

⁷ All these things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt. He had rescued them from the power of the king of Egypt. But the Israelites had honored other gods. ⁸ They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They also lived as the evil kings had shown them. ⁹ They secretly sinned against the Lord their God. They built places in all their cities where false gods were worshiped. They built them everywhere from the watchtower to the strong, walled city. ¹⁰ They put up stone pillars for worshiping false gods. And they put up Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ The Israelites burned incense everywhere false gods were worshiped. The nations who lived there before them had done this. And the Lord had forced them out of the land. The Israelites did wicked things that made the Lord angry. ¹² They served idols. And the Lord had said, “You must not do this.” ¹³ The Lord used every prophet and seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, “Stop your evil ways. Obey my commands and laws. Follow all the teachings that I commanded your ancestors to obey. I sent you this law through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But the people would not listen. They were stubborn, just as their ancestors had been. Their ancestors did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected the Lord’s laws and the agreement he had made with their ancestors. And they refused to listen to his warnings. They worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves. They did what the nations around them did. And the Lord had warned them not to do this.

¹⁶ The people disobeyed all the commands of the Lord their God. They made statues of two calves from melted metal. And they made an Asherah idol. They worshiped all the stars of heaven and served Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. And they tried to find out the future by magic and witchcraft. They always chose to do what the Lord said was wrong. And this made him angry. ¹⁸ So he was very angry with the people of Israel. He removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Judah Is Also Guilty

¹⁹ But even Judah did not obey the commands of the Lord their God. They did what the Israelites had done. ²⁰ So the Lord rejected all the people of Israel. He punished them and let people destroy them. He threw them out of his presence. ²¹ The Lord separated them from the family of David. And the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam led the Israelites away from following the Lord. He caused them to sin greatly. ²² So they continued to do all the sins Jeroboam did. They did not stop doing these sins ²³ until the Lord removed the people from his presence. This was just as he had said he would do. He had said this through all his servants the prophets. So the Israelites were taken out of their land to Assyria. And they have been there to this day.

The Beginning of the Samaritan People

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim. He put them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. These people took over Samaria and lived in the cities. ²⁵ At first they did not worship the Lord. So he sent lions among them. The lions killed some of them. ²⁶ The king of Assyria was told this. It was said, “You sent foreigners into the cities of Samaria. They do not know the law of the god of the land. This is why that land’s god has sent lions among them. The lions are killing them because they don’t know what the god wants.”

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria gave a command. He said, “You took Samaria’s priests away. Send back one of the priests to live there. Let him teach them what the god wants.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria returned. He came to live in Bethel. And he taught the people how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ But each nation made gods of its own. They put them in the cities where they lived. They put them in the temples where false gods were worshiped. These temples had been made by the Samaritans. ³⁰ The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth their god. The men from Cuthah worshiped Nergal. The men of Hamath worshiped Ashima. ³¹ The Avvites worshiped Nibhaz and Tartak. And the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire. They sacrificed them to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² They also worshiped the Lord. But they chose priests for the places where false gods were worshiped. The priests were chosen from among themselves. And they made sacrifices for the people. ³³ The people worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods. They served their gods as the nations did from which they had been brought. ³⁴ Even today they do as they did in the past. They do not worship the Lord. They do not obey his rules and commands. They do not obey the teachings or the commands of the Lord. He gave these commands to the children of Jacob, whom the Lord had named Israel. ³⁵ The Lord had made an agreement with them. He had commanded them, “Do not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them or serve them. Do not give sacrifices to them. ³⁶ Worship the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. He did it with great power and strength. Bow to the Lord and make sacrifices to him. ³⁷ Obey the rules, orders and the teachings. Obey the commands the Lord wrote for you. Obey and always do them. Do not worship other gods. ³⁸ Do not forget the agreement I made with you. And do not worship other gods. ³⁹ Instead worship the Lord your God. He will save you from all your enemies.”

⁴⁰ But the Israelites did not listen. They kept on doing the same things they had done before. ⁴¹ So these nations worshiped the Lord but served their idols. And their children and grandchildren still do as their ancestors did.