Old/New Testament
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.
Hezekiah King of Judah
18 Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. This was during the third year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel. 2 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. And he ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right. He did just as his ancestor David had done. 4 He removed the places where false gods were worshiped. He broke the stone pillars they worshiped. He cut down the Asherah idols. Also the Israelites had been burning incense to the bronze snake made by Moses. (It was called Nehushtan.) But Hezekiah broke it into pieces.
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah. There was no king like him, before him or after him. 6 Hezekiah was loyal to the Lord. He did not stop following the Lord. He obeyed the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 And the Lord was with Hezekiah. He had success in everything he did. He turned against the king of Assyria and stopped serving him. 8 Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its borders. He defeated them everywhere, from the watchtower to the strong, walled city.
The Assyrians Capture Samaria
9 Shalmaneser king of Assyria surrounded Samaria and attacked it. This was in the fourth year Hezekiah was king. And it was the seventh year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel. 10 After three years the Assyrians captured Samaria. This was in the sixth year Hezekiah was king. And it was Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria took the Israelites away to Assyria. He put them in Halah and in Gozan on the Habor River. He also put them in the cities of the Medes. 12 This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement. They did not obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. They would not listen to the commands or do them.
Assyria Attacks Judah
13 During Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked Judah. He attacked all the strong, walled cities of Judah and defeated them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. He said, “I have done wrong. Leave me alone. Then I will pay anything you demand of me.” So the king of Assyria told Hezekiah how much to pay. It was about 22,000 pounds of silver and 2,000 pounds of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the Temple of the Lord. And he gave him all the silver in the palace treasuries. 16 Hezekiah cut off all the gold that covered the doors of the Temple of the Lord. He also removed the gold from the doorposts. Hezekiah had put gold on these doors himself. He gave it all to the king of Assyria.
Assyria Troubles Hezekiah
17 The king of Assyria sent out his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander. They went with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When they came near the waterway from the upper pool, they stopped. The upper pool is on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king. So Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to meet them. Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager. Shebna was the royal assistant. And Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this:
“‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says: You have nothing to trust in to help you. 20 You say you have battle plans and power for war. But your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me? 21 Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you. Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. If you lean on it for help, it will stab you and hurt you. The king of Egypt will hurt those who depend on him. 22 You might say, “We are depending on the Lord our God.” But Hezekiah destroyed the Lord’s altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem.”
23 “‘Now make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them. 24 You cannot defeat one of my master’s least important officers. So why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and horsemen? 25 I have not come to attack and destroy this place without an order from the Lord. The Lord himself told me to come to this country and destroy it.’”
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna and Joah spoke to the field commander. They said, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew because the people on the city wall can hear you.”
27 But the commander said, “No. My master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. My master sent me to tell them also to those people sitting on the wall. They will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you.”
28 Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language. He said, “Listen to the word from the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you. Hezekiah can’t save you from my power. 30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord. Hezekiah says, ‘The Lord will surely save us. This city won’t be given over to the king of Assyria.’
31 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make peace with me. Come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree. Everyone will be free to drink water from his own well. 32 Then I will come and take you to a land like your own. It is a land with grain and new wine. It has bread and vineyards. It is a land of olives and honey. Then you can choose to live and not to die!’
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. He is fooling you when he says, ‘The Lord will save us.’ 33 The god of any other nation has not saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria. 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? They did not save Samaria from my power. 35 Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Then the Lord cannot save Jerusalem from my power.”
36 The people were silent. They didn’t answer the commander at all. This was because King Hezekiah had ordered, “Don’t answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah tore their clothes to show how upset they were. (Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager. Shebna was the royal assistant. And Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.) The three men went to Hezekiah and told him what the field commander had said.
19 People are judged by this fact: I am the Light from God that has come into the world. But men did not want light. They wanted darkness because they were doing evil things. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light. He will not come to the light because it will show all the evil things he has done. 21 But he who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that the things he has done were done through God.”
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After this, Jesus and his followers went into the area of Judea. There Jesus stayed with his followers and baptized people. 23 John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were going there to be baptized. 24 (This was before John was put into prison.)
25 Some of John’s followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing.[a] 26 So they came to John and said, “Teacher, remember the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about? He is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 John answered, “A man can get only what God gives him. 28 You yourselves heard me say, ‘I am not the Christ. I am only the one God sent to prepare the way for him.’ 29 The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. The friend who helps the bridegroom waits and listens for him. He is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That is the same pleasure I have. And my time of joy is now here. 30 He must become greater. And I must become less important.
The One Who Comes from Heaven
31 “The One who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One who comes from heaven is greater than all. 32 He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says. 33 The person who accepts what he says has proven that God is true. 34 God sent him, and he tells the things that God says. God gives him the Spirit fully. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything. 36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will never have that life. God’s anger stays with him.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.