Old/New Testament
Hoshea’s Reign over Israel
17 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for nine years. 2 He did evil in the sight of[a] the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him. 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up to attack[b] him; so Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute. 4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt.[c] Hoshea had sent messengers to King So[d] of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him.[e] 5 The king of Assyria marched through[f] the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel[g] to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.
A Summary of Israel’s Sinful History
7 This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of[h] Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped[i] other gods; 8 they observed the practices[j] of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before them,[k] and followed the example of the kings of Israel.[l] 9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right.[m] They built high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away before them did. Their evil practices made the Lord angry.[n] 12 They worshiped[o] the disgusting idols[p] in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[q]
13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.”[r] 14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors,[s] who had not trusted the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey.[t] They paid allegiance to[u] worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord.[v] They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[w] 16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky,[x] and worshiped[y] Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire,[z] and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry.[aa]
18 So the Lord was furious[ab] with Israel and rejected them;[ac] only the tribe of Judah was left. 19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example.[ad] 20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated[ae] them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king.[af] Jeroboam drove Israel away[ag] from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin.[ah] 22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam and did not repudiate[ai] them. 23 Finally[aj] the Lord rejected Israel[ak] just as he had warned he would do[al] through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
The King of Assyria Populates Israel with Foreigners
24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners[am] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria[an] in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 When they first moved in,[ao] they did not worship[ap] the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 26 The king of Assyria was told,[aq] “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people[ar] because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you[as] deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.”[at] 28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship[au] the Lord.
29 But each of these nations made[av] its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria[aw] had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 30 The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth,[ax] the people from Cuth made Nergal,[ay] the people from Hamath made Ashima,[az] 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak,[ba] and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech,[bb] the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 At the same time they worshiped[bc] the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places.[bd] 33 They were worshiping[be] the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.
34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship[bf] the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave[bg] the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 35 The Lord made a covenant with them[bh] and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability;[bi] bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 38 You must never forget the covenant I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 40 But they[bj] paid no attention; instead they observed their earlier practices. 41 These nations were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons are doing just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
Hezekiah Becomes King of Judah
18 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother[bk] was Abi,[bl] the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.[bm] 4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole.[bn] He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time[bo] the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.[bp] 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.[bq] 6 He was loyal to[br] the Lord and did not abandon him.[bs] He obeyed the commandments that the Lord had given to[bt] Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors.[bu] He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.[bv] 8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up[bw] against Samaria and besieged it. 10 After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel, Samaria was captured. 11 The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel[bx] to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. 12 This happened because they did not obey[by] the Lord their God and broke his covenant with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.[bz]
Sennacherib Invades Judah
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty.[ca] If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.”[cb] So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 300 talents[cc] of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in[cd] the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts that he had plated[ce] and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser[cf] from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went[cg] and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.[ch] 18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna, the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.
19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence?[ci] 20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk.[cj] In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me? 21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. 22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’ 23 Now make a deal[ck] with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 24 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.[cl] 25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up[cm] against this land and destroy it.’”’”[cn]
26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic,[co] for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect[cp] in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you.[cq] His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”[cr]
28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,[cs] “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand![ct] 30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.[cu] Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land just like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” 33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?[cv] 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?[cw] Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?[cx] 35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”[cy] 36 The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn[cz] and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
19 Now this is the basis for judging:[a] that the light has come into the world and people[b] loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.[c]
Further Testimony About Jesus by John the Baptist
22 After this,[d] Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. 23 John[e] was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim,[f] because water was plentiful there, and people were coming[g] to him[h] and being baptized. 24 (For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)[i]
25 Now a dispute came about between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew[j] concerning ceremonial washing.[k] 26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River,[l] about whom you testified—see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”
27 John replied,[m] “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’[n] but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[o] when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete.[p] 30 He must become more important while I become less important.”[q]
31 The one who comes from above is superior to all.[r] The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things.[s] The one who comes from heaven[t] is superior to all.[u] 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful.[v] 34 For the one whom God has sent[w] speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly.[x] 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority.[y] 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects[z] the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath[aa] remains[ab] on him.
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