Old/New Testament
17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel (for nine years).
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3 And Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against him. And Hoshea became his servant and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found treason in Hoshea. For he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done yearly. Therefore, the king of Assyria shut him up and put him in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went against Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria, Samaria took and carried Israel away to Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For when the children of Israel sinned against the LORD their God (Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt) and feared other gods,
8 and walked according to the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel, and after those of the kings of Israel which they had made,
9 and the children of Israel had secretly done things that were not upright before the LORD their God, and had built high places throughout all their cities, from the watchtower to the defensed city,
10 and had made themselves images and groves upon every high hill and under every green tree,
11 and burnt incense there in all the high places, as did the heathen, whom the LORD had taken away before them, and worked wicked things to anger the LORD,
12 and served idols (of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall do no such thing.”),
13 nevertheless, the LORD testified to Israel, and to 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 My servants, the Prophets.”
14 Still, they would not obey, but hardened their necks (like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God).
15 And they refused His Statutes and His Covenant that He made with their fathers, and His Testimonies with which He witnessed to them. And they followed vanity, and became empty, and followed the heathen who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.
16 Finally, they left all the Commandments of the LORD their God, and made themselves molten images (two calves), and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments. Indeed, they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to anger Him.
18 Therefore, the LORD was exceedingly angry with Israel, and put them out of His sight. No one was left, only the tribe of Judah.
19 Yet Judah did not keep the Commandments of the LORD their God, but walked according to the statutes of Israel which they had made.
20 Therefore, the LORD cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
21 For He cut off Israel from the House of David. And they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king. And Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the LORD and made them sin a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, not departing from them,
23 until the LORD put Israel away, out of His sight (as He had said by all His servants the Prophets) and carried Israel away, out of their land, to Assyria, until this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought people 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 children of Israel. So, they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities.
25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore, the LORD sent lions among them, which killed them.
26 Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the justice of the God of the land. Therefore, He has sent lions among them. And behold, they kill them, because they do not know the justice of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take back one of the priests whom you brought from there. And let him go and dwell there and teach them the justice of the God of the country.”
28 So, one of the priests whom they had carried from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
29 Nonetheless, every nation made their own gods and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in every city in which they dwelt.
30 For the men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth. 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 the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech (the gods of Sepharvaim).
32 Thus they feared the LORD and appointed priests from themselves for the high places, who prepared sacrifices for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared the LORD but served their own gods, after the rituals of the nations from whom they had been carried.
34 They observe these rituals to this day. They neither fear God nor obey the Ordinances nor Customs nor the Law nor the Commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel,
35 and with whom the LORD had made a Covenant, and charged them, saying, “Fear no other gods, or bow yourselves to them, or serve them, or sacrifice to them.
36 “But fear the LORD Who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power, and an outstretched arm. Fear Him and worship Him and sacrifice to Him.
37 “Also, diligently keep the Statutes and the Ordinances and the Law and the Commandment which He wrote for you, so that you do them continually. And do not fear other gods.
38 “And do not forget the Covenant that I have made with you, or fear other gods.
39 “But fear the LORD your God, and He will deliver you out of the hands of all your enemies.”
40 However, they did not obey but did after their old customs.
41 So, these nations feared the LORD and served their own images, as did their children and their children’s children. As their fathers have done, so do they, to this day.
18 Now in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, had done.
4 He took away the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke the bronze serpent that Moses had made into pieces. For until those days, the children of Israel had burnt incense to it. And he called it “Nehushtan”.
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel. There has been no one like him among all the kings of Judah since. Nor was there any like him before.
6 For he clung to the LORD, not departing from Him but keeping His Commandments (which the LORD had commanded Moses).
7 So the LORD was with him. He prospered wherever he went. Also, he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
8 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its territories, from the watchtower to the defensed city.
9 And in the fourth year of King Hezekiah (which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel) Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And after three years, they took it, in the sixth year of Hezekiah. That is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 Then, the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria and put them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they would not obey the Voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His Covenant—all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded—and would neither obey nor do them.
13 Moreover, in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the strong cities of Judah and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, “I have offended. Depart from me, and whatever you lay upon me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 Therefore, Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the House of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16 In the same season, Hezekiah pulled off the plating of the doors of the Temple of the LORD, and the pillars (which said Hezekiah, king of Judah, had covered over) and gave them 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 army, against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is by the path of the fuller’s field,
18 and called to the king. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah (who was steward of the house), came out to them, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Please tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the great king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?
20 Do you think, ‘Surely, I have eloquence, counsel and strength for the war?’ In whom then do you trust that you rebel against me?
21 “Lo, now you trust in this broken staff of reed, on Egypt, upon which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
22 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is not that He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this Altar in Jerusalem?’”
23 ‘Now, therefore, give hostages to my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to set riders upon them.
24 ‘For how can you repel any captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25 ‘Have I now come up without the LORD to this place, to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”
26 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in the Aramites’ language. For we understand it. And do not talk to us in the Jews’ tongue in the audience of the people who are on the wall.
27 But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master only sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
28 So Rabshakeh stood, and spoke, saying, “Hear the words of the great king, of the king of Assyria!
29 “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you! For he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand!
30 ‘And do not let Hezekiah make you to trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us! And this city shall not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria!”
31 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah! For thus says the king of Assyria, “Make peace with me! And come out to me, so that every man may eat of his own vine, and every man of his own fig tree, and drink every man of the water of his own well,
32 “until I come and bring you to a land like your own land, a land of wheat and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, so that you may live and not die!” And do not obey Hezekiah, for he deceives you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us!”
33 ‘Have any of the gods of the nations 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, Hena and Ivah? How have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
35 ‘Who are they among all the gods of the nations, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
36 But the people held their peace and did not answer him a word. For the king’s commandment was, saying, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was steward of the house, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah, the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
19 “And this is the judgment: that the Light came into the world, and man loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 “But the one who practices truth comes to the Light, that his works done according to God might be made visible.”
22 After these things, Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea and stayed there with them and baptized.
23 And John also baptized in Aenon, near 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 John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.
26 And they came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, he baptizes, and all come to him.”
27 John answered, and said, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given to him from Heaven.
28 You yourselves are my witnesses, that I said, ‘I am not that Christ, but that I am sent before Him.’
29 “The One who 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. Therefore, my joy is fulfilled.
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 “The One who has come from on high is above all. The one who is from the Earth, is from the Earth, and speaks from the Earth. The One who has come from Heaven is above all.
32 “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies. But no one receives His testimony.
33 “The one who has received His testimony, has sealed 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.
35 “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
36 “The one who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And the one who disbelieves the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
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