1 In the seventeenth
year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king
of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned
sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right
in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.
3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and
made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations
of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children
of Israel.
4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and
on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of
Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz,
but could not overcome him.
6 At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria,
and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath,
and dwelt there unto this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria,
saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out
of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the
king of Israel, which rise up against me.
8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house
of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent
it for a present to the king of Assyria.
9 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of
Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the
people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
10 And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king
of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king
Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and
the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
11 And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that
king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made
it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
12 And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the
altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.
13 and he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and
poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace
offerings, upon the altar.
14 And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the
LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar
and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the
altar.
15 And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the
great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening
meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat
offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land,
and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle
upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood
of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire
by.
16 Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz
commanded.
17 And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed
the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the
brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of
stones.
18 And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the
house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house
of the LORD for the king of Assyria.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his
fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in
his stead.
Chapter 17
1 In the twelfth
year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah 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 Hoshea
became his servant, and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy 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 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 Hoshea 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 children of Israel had sinned against
the LORD their God, which 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 heathen, whom the LORD cast
out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of
Israel, which they had made.
9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that
were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them
high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen
to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill,
and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did
the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought
wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them,
Ye shall not do this thing.
13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah,
by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks,
like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe 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 heathen 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 them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove,
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 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they 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 sight.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made
Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel 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; they departed not from them;
23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had
said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried
away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought men 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: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities
thereof.
25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that
they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among
them, which slew some of them.
26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The
nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of
Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore
he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them,
because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither
one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them
go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner 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 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them
in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,
every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
30 And 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 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, which 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 nations whom they carried away from thence.
34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear
not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after
their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the
LORD commanded the children 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 bow yourselves to
them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
36 But the LORD, 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 the ordinances, and the law, and the
commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do
for evermore; 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, but they did after their former
manner.
41 So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven
images, both their children, and their children's children:
as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
Chapter 18
1 Now it came to
pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel,
that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and
he reigned twenty and 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 brake the images, and cut
down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that
Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was
none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were
before him.
6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following
him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.
7 And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever
he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria,
and served him not.
8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders
thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which
was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that
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 Hoshea king of Israel,
Samaria was taken.
11 And the king of Assyria did carry 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 obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God,
but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant
of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib
king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah,
and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to
Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which
thou puttest on me will I bear. And 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 treasures of the king's house.
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors
of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars 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 Rab-shakeh
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 fuller's field.
18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19 And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah,
Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence
is this wherein thou trustest?
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 rebellest against me?
21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised
reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into
his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all
that trust on him.
22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not
that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken
away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship
before this altar in Jerusalem?
23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king
of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if
thou be 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 servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for
chariots and for horsemen?
25 Am 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 Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the
Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us
in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on
the wall.
27 But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to
thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent
me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their
own dung, and drink their own piss with you.
28 Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great
king, the king of Assyria:
29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you out of his 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 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,
Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me,
and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of
his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land
of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and
hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The
LORD will deliver us.
33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the
gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria
out of mine hand?
35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have
delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should
deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word:
for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph
the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told
him the words of Rab-shakeh. |