The Daily Audio Bible

King Hoshea of Israel

17 In the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for nine years. ² He sinned against the Lord, but not as much as the kings who had ruled Israel before him. ³ Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria made war against him; Hoshea surrendered to Shalmaneser and paid him tribute every year. ⁴ But one year Hoshea sent messengers to So, king of Egypt,^[a] asking for his help, and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learned of this, he had Hoshea arrested and put in prison.

The Fall of Samaria

⁵ Then Shalmaneser invaded Israel and besieged Samaria. In the third year of the siege, ⁶ which was the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the Assyrian emperor^[b] captured Samaria, took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners, and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan and some in the cities of Media.

⁷ Samaria fell because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the king of Egypt and had led them out of Egypt. They worshiped other gods, ⁸ followed the customs of the people whom the Lord had driven out as his people advanced, and adopted customs introduced by the kings of Israel.^{[c] 9} The Israelites did^[d] things that the Lord their God disapproved of. They built pagan places of worship in all their towns, from the smallest village to the largest city. ^10 (A)On all the hills and under every shady tree they put up stone pillars and images of the goddess Asherah, ¹¹ and they burned incense on all the pagan altars, following the practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land. They aroused the Lord's anger with all their wicked deeds ¹² and disobeyed the Lord's command not to worship idols.

¹³ The Lord had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: “Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not obey; they were stubborn like their ancestors, who had not trusted in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They refused to obey his instructions, they did not keep the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they disregarded his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves, and they followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying the Lord's command not to imitate them. ^16 (B)They broke all the laws of the Lord their God and made two metal bull-calves to worship; they also made an image of the goddess Asherah, worshiped the stars, and served the god Baal. ^17 (C)They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord's sight, and so aroused his anger. ¹⁸ The Lord was angry with the Israelites and banished them from his sight, leaving only the kingdom of Judah.

¹⁹ But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the Lord their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel. ²⁰ The Lord rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.

²¹ After the Lord had separated Israel from Judah, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam caused them to abandon the Lord and led them into terrible sins. ²² They followed Jeroboam and continued to practice all the sins he had committed, ²³ until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live.

The Assyrians Settle in Israel

²⁴ The emperor of Assyria took people from the cities of Babylon, Cuth, Ivvah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria^[e] in place of the exiled Israelites. They took possession of these cities and lived there. ²⁵ When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them. ²⁶ The emperor of Assyria was told that the people he had settled in the cities of Samaria did not know the law of the god of that land, and so the god had sent lions, which were killing them. ²⁷ So the emperor commanded: “Send back one of the priests we brought as prisoners; have him^[f] go back and live there, in order to teach the people the law of the god of that land.” ²⁸ So an Israelite priest who had been deported from Samaria went and lived in Bethel, where he taught the people how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ But the people who settled in Samaria continued to make their own idols, and they placed them in the shrines that the Israelites had built. Each different group made idols in the cities they were living in: ³⁰ the people of Babylon made idols of the god Succoth Benoth; the people of Cuth, idols of Nergal; the people of Hamath, idols of Ashima; ³¹ the people of Ivvah, idols of Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim sacrificed their children as burnt offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. ³² These people also worshiped the Lord and chose from among their own number all sorts of people to serve as priests at the pagan places of worship and to offer sacrifices for them there. ³³ So they worshiped the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the customs of the countries from which they had come.

^34 (D)They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the Lord nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. ^35 (E)The Lord had made a covenant with them and had ordered them: “Do not worship other gods; do not bow down to them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. ^36 (F)You shall obey me, the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great power and strength; you are to bow down to me and offer sacrifices to me. ³⁷ You shall always obey the laws and commands that I wrote for you. You shall not obey other gods, ³⁸ and you shall not forget the covenant I made with you. ³⁹ You shall obey me, the Lord your God, and I will rescue you from your enemies.” ⁴⁰ But those people would not listen, and they continued to follow their old customs.

⁴¹ So those people worshiped the Lord, but they also worshiped their idols; and to this day their descendants continue to do the same.

King Hezekiah of Judah^(G)

18 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah as king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah ² at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ³ Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord. ^4 (H)He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor. ⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time. ⁶ He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses. ⁷ So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him. ⁸ He defeated the Philistines and raided their settlements, from the smallest village to the largest city, including Gaza and its surrounding territory.

⁹ In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign—which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel—Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria. ¹⁰ In the third year of the siege Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea's reign. ¹¹ The Assyrian emperor^[g] took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

¹² Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

To Macedonia and Achaia

20 After the uproar died down, Paul called together the believers and with words of encouragement said good-bye to them. Then he left and went on to Macedonia. ² He went through those regions and encouraged the people with many messages. Then he came to Achaia, ³ where he stayed three months. He was getting ready to go to Syria when he discovered that there were Jews plotting against him; so he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴ Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, went with him; so did Aristarchus and Secundus, from Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; Tychicus and Trophimus, from the province of Asia; and Timothy. ⁵ They went ahead and waited for us in Troas. ⁶ We sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later we joined them in Troas, where we spent a week.

Paul's Last Visit to Troas

⁷ On Saturday^[a] evening we gathered together for the fellowship meal. Paul spoke to the people and kept on speaking until midnight, since he was going to leave the next day. ⁸ Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window, and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus got sleepier and sleepier, until he finally went sound asleep and fell from the third story to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and threw himself on him and hugged him. “Don't worry,” he said, “he is still alive!” ¹¹ Then he went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. After talking with them for a long time, even until sunrise, Paul left. ¹² They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

From Troas to Miletus

¹³ We went on ahead to the ship and sailed off to Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had told us to do this, because he was going there by land. ¹⁴ When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from there and arrived off Chios the next day. A day later we came to Samos, and the following day we reached Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided to sail on by Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to arrive in Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost, if at all possible.

Paul's Farewell Speech to the Elders of Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus Paul sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. ¹⁸ When they arrived, he said to them, “You know how I spent the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ¹⁹ With all humility and many tears I did my work as the Lord's servant during the hard times that came to me because of the plots of some Jews. ²⁰ You know that I did not hold back anything that would be of help to you as I preached and taught in public and in your homes. ²¹ To Jews and Gentiles alike I gave solemn warning that they should turn from their sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus. ²² And now, in obedience to the Holy Spirit I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me. ^24 (A)But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

²⁵ “I have gone about among all of you, preaching the Kingdom of God. And now I know that none of you will ever see me again. ²⁶ So I solemnly declare to you this very day: if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible. ²⁷ For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God. ²⁸ So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God,^[b] which he made his own through the blood of his Son.^{[c] 29} I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. ³⁰ The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them. ³¹ Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

³² “And now I commend you to the care of God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the blessings God has for all his people. ³³ I have not wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that I have worked with these hands of mine to provide everything that my companions and I have needed. ³⁵ I have shown you in all things that by working hard in this way we must help the weak, remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.’”

³⁶ When Paul finished, he knelt down with them and prayed. ³⁷ They were all crying as they hugged him and kissed him good-bye. ³⁸ They were especially sad because he had said that they would never see him again. And so they went with him to the ship.

A Call for the Universe to Praise God

⁶ When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating.

⁷ When a fool speaks, he is ruining himself; he gets caught in the trap of his own words.