HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 714
2 KIN G S 1 8
prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my
commands and decrees—the entire law that I
commanded your ancestors to obey, and that
I gave you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But the Israelites would not listen. They
were as stubborn as their ancestors who had
refused to believe in the Lord their God. 15 They
rejected his decrees and the covenant he had
made with their ancestors, and they despised
all his warnings. They worshiped worthless
idols, so they became worthless themselves.
They followed the example of the nations
around them, disobeying the Lord’s command
not to imitate them.
16 They rejected all the commands of the Lord
their God and made two calves from metal. They
set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and
all the forces of heaven. 17 They even sacrificed
their own sons and daughters in the fire.* They
consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the
Lord’s anger.
18 Because the Lord was very angry with Israel, he swept them away from his presence.
Only the tribe of Judah remained in the land.
19 But even the people of Judah refused to obey
the commands of the Lord their God, for they
followed the evil practices that Israel had introduced. 20 The Lord rejected all the descendants
of Israel. He punished them by handing them
over to their attackers until he had banished Israel from his presence.
21 For when the Lord* tore Israel away from
the kingdom of David, they chose Jeroboam son
of Nebat as their king. But Jeroboam drew Israel
away from following the Lord and made them
commit a great sin. 22 And the people of Israel
persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. They
did not turn from these sins 23 until the Lord finally swept them away from his presence, just
as all his prophets had warned. So Israel was
exiled from their land to Assyria, where they
remain to this day.
Foreigners Settle in Israel
24 The king of Assyria transported groups of
people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath,
and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the
towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived
in its towns. 25 But since these foreign settlers
did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which
killed some of them.
26 So a message was sent to the king of Assyria: “The people you have sent to live in the
towns of Samaria do not know the religious customs of the God of the land. He has sent lions
among them to destroy them because they have
not worshiped him correctly.”
page 344
27 The king of Assyria then commanded,
“Send one of the exiled priests back to Samaria.
Let him live there and teach the new residents
the religious customs of the God of the land.”
28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from
Samaria returned to Bethel and taught the new
residents how to worship the Lord.
29 But these various groups of foreigners
also continued to worship their own gods. In
town after town where they lived, they placed
their idols at the pagan shrines that the people
of Samaria had built. 30 Those from Babylon
worshiped idols of their god Succoth-benoth.
Those from Cuthah worshiped their god Nergal.
And those from Hamath worshiped Ashima.
31 The Avvites worshiped their gods Nibhaz and
Tartak. And the people from Sepharvaim even
burned their own children as sacrifices to their
gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
32 These new residents worshiped the Lord,
but they also appointed from among themselves
all sorts of people as priests to offer sacrifices at
their places of worship. 33 And though they worshiped the Lord, they continued to follow their
own gods according to the religious customs of
the nations from which they came. 34 And this
is still going on today. They continue to follow
their former practices instead of truly worshiping
the Lord and obeying the decrees, regulations,
instructions, and commands he gave the descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel.
35 For the Lord had made a covenant with the
descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do
not worship any other gods or bow before them or
serve them or offer sacrifices to them. 36 But worship only the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt
with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow
down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to
him. 37 Be careful at all times to obey the decrees,
regulations, instructions, and commands that he
wrote for you. You must not worship other gods.
38 Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and
do not worship other gods. 39 You must worship
only the Lord your God. He is the one who will
rescue you from all your enemies.”
40 But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices. 41 So while
these new residents worshiped the Lord, they
also worshiped their idols. And to this day their
descendants do the same.
Hezekiah Rules in Judah
Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule
over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2 He was twenty-five years
old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was
Abijah,* the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did
18
17:17 Or They even made their sons and daughters pass through
the fire. 17:21 Hebrew he; compare 1 Kgs 11:31-32. 18:2 As in
parallel text at 2 Chr 29:1; Hebrew reads Abi, a variant spelling
of Abijah.