Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Then the king of Ashur invaded all the land, advanced on Shomron and put it under siege for three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Ashur captured Shomron. He carried Isra’el away captive to Ashur, resettling them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ This came about because the people of Isra’el had sinned against Adonai their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out from under the domination of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They feared other gods ⁸ and lived by the customs of the nations that Adonai had expelled ahead of the people of Isra’el and by those of the kings of Isra’el. ⁹ The people of Isra’el secretly did things that were not right, according to Adonai their God. They built high places for themselves wherever they lived, from the watchtower to the fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up standing-stones and sacred poles for themselves on any high hill and under any green tree. ¹¹ Then they would make offerings on all the high places, like the nations Adonai had expelled ahead of them, and would do wicked things to provoke the anger of Adonai; ¹² moreover, they served idols, something Adonai had expressly told them not to do. ¹³ Adonai had warned Isra’el and Y’hudah in advance through every prophet and seer, “Turn from your evil ways; and obey my mitzvot and regulations, in accordance with the entire Torah which I ordered your ancestors to keep and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless, they refused to listen but made themselves as stubborn as their ancestors, who did not put their trust in Adonai their God. ¹⁵ Thus they rejected his laws; his covenant, which he had made with their ancestors; and the solemn warnings he had given them. Instead they pursued worthless things and became worthless themselves, imitating the nations around them, whom Adonai had ordered them not to emulate. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the mitzvot of Adonai their God. They made cast metal images for themselves, two calves. They made an asherah. They worshipped the whole army of heaven. They served Ba‘al. ¹⁷ They had their sons and daughters pass through fire [as a sacrifice]. They used divination and magic spells. And they gave themselves over to do what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, thereby provoking him; ¹⁸ so that Adonai, by now very angry with Isra’el, removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Y’hudah alone.

²⁹ “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the tzaddikim, ³⁰ and you say, ‘Had we lived when our fathers did, we would never have taken part in killing the prophets.’ ³¹ In this you testify against yourselves that you are worthy descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead then, finish what your fathers started!

³³ “You snakes! Sons of snakes! How can you escape being condemned to Gei-Hinnom? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and Torah-teachers — some of them you will kill, indeed, you will have them executed on stakes as criminals; some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so, on you will fall the guilt for all the innocent blood that has ever been shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Hevel to the blood of Z’kharyah Ben-Berekhyah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. ³⁶ Yes! I tell you that all this will fall on this generation!

³⁷ “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! ³⁸ Look! God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate.^{[a] 39} For I tell you, from now on, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai.’”^[b]