Chronological

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

28 ^(A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and ^(B)he did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh, as David his father had done. ^2 (C)But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also ^(D)made molten images for the Baals. ³ Moreover, ^(E)he offered offerings in smoke in the valley of Ben-hinnom and ^(F)burned his sons in the fire, ^(G)according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel. ⁴ He also sacrificed and ^(H)offered offerings in smoke on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Judah Carried Away by Aram

⁵ So, ^(I)Yahweh his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they struck him and carried away from him a great number of captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter. ⁶ Indeed, ^(J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah 120,000 in one day, all men of valor, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the ruler of the house and Elkanah the second to the king.

^8 (K)Then the sons of Israel carried away captive of ^(L)their brothers 200,000 women, sons, and daughters; and they plundered also a great deal of spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and ^(M)he went out before the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because of the ^(N)wrath of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, against Judah, He has given them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage ^(O)which has even reached heaven. ¹⁰ So now you are ^[a]intending to ^(P)subdue for yourselves the people of Judah and Jerusalem for male and female slaves. Surely, do you not have your own matters of guilt against Yahweh your God? ¹¹ So now, listen to me and return the captives ^(Q)whom you carried away from your brothers, ^(R)for the burning anger of Yahweh is against you.” ¹² Then some of the heads of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—arose against those who were coming from the engagement of the army, ¹³ and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are ^[b]intending to bring upon us guilt against Yahweh adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great so that His burning anger is against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the commanders and all the assembly. ¹⁵ Then ^(S)the men who were designated by name arose, took hold of the captives, and they clothed all their naked ones from the spoil; and they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and ^(T)gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, ^(U)the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

Ahaz Sends to Assyria for Help

^16 (V)At that time King Ahaz sent to the ^[c]kings of Assyria for help. ^17 (W)Indeed, again the Edomites had come and struck Judah and carried away captives. ^18 (X)And the Philistines also had raided the cities of the ^[d]Shephelah and of the ^[e]Negev of Judah, and had captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its towns, Timnah with its towns, and Gimzo with its towns, and they settled there. ¹⁹ For Yahweh humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of ^(Y)Israel, for he had caused it to be out of control in Judah and was very unfaithful to Yahweh. ²⁰ So ^(Z)Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and distressed him instead of strengthening him. ^21 (AA)Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of Yahweh and out of the house of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

²² Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz ^(AB)became yet more unfaithful to Yahweh. ^23 (AC)Indeed, he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had struck him, and said, “^(AD)Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they became the stumbling of him and all Israel. ²⁴ Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God. Then he ^(AE)cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he ^(AF)closed the doors of the house of Yahweh and ^(AG)made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ Now in each and every city of Judah he made high places to offer offerings in smoke to other gods, and provoked Yahweh, the God of his fathers, to anger. ^26 (AH)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ^27 (AI)So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of ^(AJ)Israel; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, ^(A)Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. ^2 (B)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh his God, as David his father had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, ^(C)and even made his son pass through the fire, ^(D)according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel. ⁴ He also ^(E)sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵ Then ^(F)Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, ^(G)but could not ^[a]overcome him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram restored ^(H)Elath for Aram and cleared the Judeans out of ^[b]Elath entirely; and the ^[c]Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

Ahaz Sends for Help from Assyria

^7 (I)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(J)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the ^[d]hand of the king of Aram and from the ^[e]hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ^8 (K)Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ^9 (L)So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and ^(M)seized it and took the people of it away into exile to ^(N)Kir, and put Rezin to death.

Ahaz Has Urijah Build an Altar

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(O)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to ^(P)Urijah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, ^[f]before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹² So the king came from Damascus, and the king saw the altar; then ^(Q)the king drew near the altar and ^[g]made offerings on it, ¹³ and offered his burnt offering and his meal offering up in smoke, and poured his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ^14 (R)Now as for the bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, ^[h]he drew it away from the front of the house, from between ^(S)his altar and the house of Yahweh, and he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz ^[i]commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar offer up in smoke ^(T)the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offerings; and splash on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But ^(U)the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz ^(V)cut off the borders of the stands and removed the laver from them; he also ^(W)took down the sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸ And the covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written ^(X)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ So ^(Y)Ahaz slept with his fathers and ^(Z)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(AA)Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned nine years. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (AB)Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up ^(AC)against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute 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 went up against the whole land and he went up to ^(AD)Samaria and besieged it three years.

Israel Exiled to Assyria

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, ^(AE)the king of Assyria captured Samaria and ^(AF)took Israel away into exile to Assyria, and ^(AG)settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of ^(AH)Gozan, and ^(AI)in the cities of the Medes.

Israel Rejects Yahweh

⁷ Now ^(AJ)this happened because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God—^(AK)who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt—^(AL)and they had ^[j]feared other gods ⁸ and ^(AM)walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes ^(AN)of the kings of Israel which they had made. ⁹ And the sons of Israel ^[k]did things secretly which were not right against Yahweh their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from ^(AO)watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (AP)And they set for themselves sacred pillars and ^[l](AQ)Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, ¹¹ and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which Yahweh had taken away into exile before them; and they did evil things provoking Yahweh to anger. ¹² And they served idols, ^(AR)concerning which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³ Yet ^(AS)Yahweh warned Israel and Judah ^(AT)by the hand of all His prophets and ^(AU)every seer, saying, “^(AV)Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, 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 However, they did not listen, but ^(AW)stiffened their neck ^[m]like their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh their God. ^15 (AX)They also rejected His statutes and ^(AY)His covenant which He cut with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And ^(AZ)they followed vanity and ^(BA)became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which ^(BB)Yahweh had commanded them not to do like them. ¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God and made for themselves molten images, even ^(BC)two calves, and ^(BD)made an ^[n]Asherah and ^(BE)worshiped all the host of heaven and ^(BF)served Baal. ¹⁷ Then ^(BG)they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and ^(BH)practiced divination and omens, and ^(BI)sold themselves to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger. ¹⁸ So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and ^(BJ)caused them to depart from His ^[o]presence; ^(BK)none was left except the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Also ^(BL)Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but ^(BM)walked in the statutes ^[p]which Israel had made. ²⁰ So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and ^(BN)gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them ^[q]from His presence.

²¹ When ^(BO)He had torn Israel from the house of David, ^(BP)they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then ^(BQ)Jeroboam drove Israel away from following Yahweh and made them sin a great sin. ²² And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them ^23 (BR)until Yahweh caused Israel to depart from His presence, ^(BS)as He spoke through all His slaves the prophets. ^(BT)So Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Exiled Men in the Cities of Samaria

^24 (BU)And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from ^[r](BV)Avva and from ^(BW)Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵ Now it happened at the beginning of their settlement there, that they ^(BX)did not fear Yahweh; therefore Yahweh sent lions among them which were killing them. ²⁶ So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have taken away into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are putting them to death because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you took away into ^[s]exile and let ^[t]him go and live there; and let him instruct them the custom of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had taken away into exile from Samaria came and settled at Bethel, and instructed them how they should fear Yahweh.

²⁹ But each nation was still making gods of its own and put them ^(BY)in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, each nation in their cities in which they lived. ^30 (BZ)And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and ^(CA)the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to ^(CB)Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the ^(CC)Sepharvaim. ^32 (CD)They were also fearing Yahweh and ^[u](CE)appointed from among all of themselves priests of the high places, and they were acting for them in the houses of the high places. ³³ They were fearing Yahweh and serving their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been taken away into exile.

³⁴ To this day they are acting according to the earlier customs: they are not fearing Yahweh; they are not acting according to their statutes or their judgments or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, ^(CF)whom He named Israel; ³⁵ with whom Yahweh cut a covenant and commanded them, saying, “^(CG)You shall not fear other gods, nor ^(CH)worship them nor ^(CI)serve them nor sacrifice to them. ³⁶ But Yahweh, ^(CJ)who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with ^(CK)an outstretched arm, ^(CL)Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes and the judgments and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^(CM)you shall be careful to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ And the covenant that I have cut with you, ^(CN)you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹ But Yahweh your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However, they did not listen, but they were acting according to their earlier custom. ^41 (CO)So while these nations were fearing Yahweh, they also were serving their graven images; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers acted, so they are acting this way to this day.