Old/New Testament
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.
18 ¶ Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, did.
4 He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days, the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. {Heb. a thing of brass}
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before was there any like him among all the kings of Judah.
6 For he cleaved unto the LORD and did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.
7 And the LORD was with him, and he prospered in all things in which he went forth; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced city.
9 ¶ And in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And at the end of three years, they took it; even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 And the king of Assyria carried away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes:
12 because they had not hearkened unto the voice of the LORD their God, but had broken his covenant and all that Moses, the slave of the LORD, commanded and would not hear them nor do them.
13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them.
14 And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent unto the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have sinned; return from me; that which thou puttest on me I will bear. Then the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasury of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the hinges which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 ¶ And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the washer’s field.
18 And they called the king, and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the writer of chronicles went out to them.
19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which thou dost trust?
20 Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
21 Now, behold, thou dost trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt unto all that trust in him.
22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is he not the one whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give hostages unto my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou art able on thy part to set riders upon them.
24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s slaves, even though thou dost trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 Furthermore, Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
26 Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy slaves in the Syrian language, for we understand it, and do not talk with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
27 But Rabshakeh said unto them, Has my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak these words and not rather to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you?
28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29 Thus hath the king said, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand.
30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31 Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, Give me a blessing and come out to me, and then each one of you shall eat of their own vine and of their own fig tree, and each one shall drink the waters of their own well,
32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives, of oil, and of honey, that ye may live, and not die. Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.
33 Peradventure have any of the gods of the Gentiles delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where is the god of Hamath and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35 What god out of all the gods of the lands has delivered their land out of my hand that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
36 But the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, saying, Do not answer him.
37 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the writer of chronicles, came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness more than the light because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
22 ¶ After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judaea, and he tarried there with them and baptized.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized.
24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
25 Then there arose a question between the disciples of John and the Jews about purifying.
26 And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan of whom thou gave witness, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him.
27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except it is given him from the heaven.
28 Ye yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice; this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 It is expedient unto him to increase, but unto me, to decrease.
31 He that comes from above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly and speaks earthly things: he that comes from heaven is above all.
32 And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies; and no one receives his testimony.
33 He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God does not give the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
36 He that believes in the Son has eternal life, and he that does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International