2 Kings 15-17

New International Version - UK

Azariah king of Judah

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah^[a] son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. ² He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

⁵ The Lord afflicted the king with leprosy^[b] until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house.^[c] Jotham the king’s son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

⁶ As for the other events of Azariah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ⁷ Azariah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in the City of David. And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.

Zechariah king of Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for six months. ⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his predecessors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

¹⁰ Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah. He attacked him in front of the people,^[d] assassinated him and succeeded him as king. ¹¹ The other events of Zechariah’s reign are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. ¹² So the word of the Lord spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: ‘Your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.’^[e]

Shallum king of Israel

¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned in Samaria for one month. ¹⁴ Then Menahem son of Gadi went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, assassinated him and succeeded him as king.

¹⁵ The other events of Shallum’s reign, and the conspiracy he led, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.

¹⁶ At that time Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.

Menahem king of Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria for ten years. ¹⁸ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. During his entire reign he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

¹⁹ Then Pul^[f] king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents^[g] of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom. ²⁰ Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy person had to contribute fifty shekels^[h] of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer.

²¹ As for the other events of Menahem’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? ²² Menahem rested with his ancestors. And Pekahiah his son succeeded him as king.

Pekahiah king of Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for two years. ²⁴ Pekahiah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. ²⁵ One of his chief officers, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him. Taking fifty men of Gilead with him, he assassinated Pekahiah, along with Argob and Arieh, in the citadel of the royal palace at Samaria. So Pekah killed Pekahiah and succeeded him as king.

²⁶ The other events of Pekahiah’s reign, and all he did, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.

Pekah king of Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for twenty years. ²⁸ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

²⁹ In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

³¹ As for the other events of Pekah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Jotham king of Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord.

³⁶ As for the other events of Jotham’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ (In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.) ³⁸ Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David, the city of his father. And Ahaz his son succeeded him as king.

Ahaz king of Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

⁵ Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. ⁶ At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, ‘I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.’ ⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. ¹² When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings^[i] on it. ¹³ He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. ¹⁴ The bronze altar that stood before the Lord he brought from the front of the temple – from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord – and put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵ King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: ‘On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.’ ¹⁶ And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. ¹⁸ He took away the Sabbath canopy^[j] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entrance outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.

Hoshea last king of Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for nine years. ² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

³ Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So^[k] king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. ⁵ The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the River Habor and in the towns of the Medes.

Israel exiled because of sin

⁷ All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods ⁸ and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watch-tower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. ¹² They worshipped idols, though the Lord had said, ‘You shall not do this.’^{[l] 13} The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: ‘Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.’

¹⁴ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do.’

¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshipped Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practised divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. ²⁰ Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

²¹ When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin. ²² The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them ²³ until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

Samaria resettled

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. ²⁵ When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. ²⁶ It was reported to the king of Assyria: ‘The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.’

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria gave this order: ‘Make one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.’ ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. ³⁰ The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, those from Kuthah made Nergal, and those from Hamath made Ashima; ³¹ the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² They worshipped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. ³³ They worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

³⁴ To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. ³⁵ When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: ‘Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. ³⁶ But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. ³⁷ You must always be careful to keep the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. ³⁸ Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. ³⁹ Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.’

⁴⁰ They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. ⁴¹ Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.