Historical

Menahem Ends Jehu’s Line

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. ² He was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ Now he did what was right in Adonai’s eyes, just like all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ However, the high places were not taken away—the people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

⁵ Then Adonai struck the king, so that he had tza’arat until the day of his death, and lived in an isolated house. Meanwhile Jotham, the king’s son, was in charge of the palace and governing the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ Then Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Then his son Jotham became king in his place.

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ¹⁰ Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and smote him before the people, killed him, and became king in his place. ¹¹ Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹² This was the word of Adonai that He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your descendants to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel,” and so it came to pass. ¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah of Judah, and he reigned for one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem son of Gadi marched up from Tirzah, reached Samaria, then struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, including his conspiracy that he contrived, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Then Menahem struck down Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its territories from Tirzah, because they did not open to him, therefore he attacked it and ripped open all its pregnant women. ¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. Throughout his days he never turned away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit.

¹⁹ Then King Pul of Assyria invaded the country, so Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen his hold on the kingdom. ²⁰ Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from every person of means, each one 50 shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and stayed no longer in the land.

²¹ Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²² Then Menahem slept with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place. ²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. ²⁴ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ²⁵ Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his aide, conspired against him and assassinated him in Samaria, in the castle of the royal palace, along with Argob, Arieh, and 50 Gileadite men. So he killed him and became king in his place. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Israel and Aram Attack Judah

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 20 years. ²⁸ But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit. ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria invaded and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the region of Naphtali, and he deported them to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then became king in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

³² In the second year of Pekah son of King Remaliah of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Now he did what was right in the eyes of Adonai, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ However, the high places were not taken away, and the people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. It was he who built the upper gate of the House of Adonai. ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days Adonai began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. Then Ahaz his son became king in his place.

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of King Jotham of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. But he did not do what was right in the eyes of Adonai his God, as his father David had done. ³ Instead he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, like the abominations of the nations whom Adonai had dispossessed before Bnei-Yisrael. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

⁵ Then King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of King Remaliah of Israel marched against Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and drove the Jews out of Elath. Then the Edomites came to Elath and settled there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the House of Adonai and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and sent them as a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria responded to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and captured it, and deported its inhabitants as captives to Kir and put Rezin to death.

Ahaz Remodels the Temple

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria and saw the altar that was at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent to Urijah the kohen the pattern of the altar and its model needed for its construction. ¹¹ Then Urijah the kohen built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and Urijah the kohen finished it by the time King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, the king approached the altar and went up to it. ¹³ Then he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ As for the bronze altar that was before Adonai, he moved it from the forefront of the House, from between his altar and the House of Adonai, and put it on the north side of his own altar.

¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the kohen saying, “Upon the great altar you will burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offering. Also sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifices. But the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.”

¹⁶ Thus Urijah the kohen did everything just as King Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the borders of the stands and removed the laver from them. He also took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. ¹⁸ The covered passageway for Shabbat that they had built in the House as well as the outer entry for the king, he removed from the House of Adonai, because of 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 Then Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then his son Hezekiah became king in his place.

The Israelites are Deported to Assyria

17 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. ² He did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³ King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched against him, so Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria caught Hoshea conspiring—he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt, and had not paid the tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done every year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him and put him in prison. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded the entire country, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.

⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He placed them in Halah and Habor, on the Gozan River, and in the towns of the Medes. ⁷ Now it was so because the men of Israel had sinned against Adonai their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. ⁸ Instead they followed the customs of the nations, whom Adonai had dispossessed before Bnei-Yisrael, yet which the kings of Israel practiced. ⁹ Bnei-Yisrael secretly did things against Adonai their God that were not right. They built shrines for themselves in all their settlements—from watchtowers to fortified cities, ¹⁰ and they set up pillars and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every leafy tree. ¹¹ There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom Adonai had driven out before them. So they did wicked things to provoke Adonai. ¹² They worshipped idols, about which Adonai had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet Adonai had forewarned Israel and Judah by the hand of every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Torah which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Yet they would not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not trust in Adonai their God. ¹⁵ So they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them. Instead they went after futile things and became futile, following the nations that surrounded them, about whom Adonai had charged them not to emulate. ¹⁶ So they abandoned all the mitzvot of Adonai their God. So they made for themselves molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah pole, and bowed down to all the host of heavens, and worshipped Baal, ¹⁷ and they made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in Adonai’s eyes, to provoke Him.

¹⁸ So Adonai became very angry with Israel, and banished them from His presence. There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Even Judah did not keep the mitzvot of Adonai their God, but followed the customs which Israel had practiced. ²⁰ So Adonai spurned all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.

²¹ When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drew Israel away from following Adonai and made them commit a great sin. ²² The men of Israel kept walking in all the sins that Jeroboam committed. They did not turn away from them, ²³ until Adonai banished Israel from His presence, as He spoke by the hand of all His servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled from their own land to Assyria to this day.

Origin of the Samaritans

²⁴ Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the men of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and settled in its cities. ²⁵ When they first began dwelling there, they did not fear Adonai—so Adonai sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ Then they spoke to the king of Assyria saying, “The nations that you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know the requirement of the God of the land. Therefore He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them because they don’t know the requirement of the God of the land.”

²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded saying, “Send there one of the kohanim whom you have exiled from there. Let them go and live there and teach them the requirement of the God of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the kohanim that had been deported from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Adonai.

²⁹ However, every nation kept making its own gods, and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made—every nation in their cities where they settled. ³⁰ So the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared Adonai, while they also appointed for themselves from among themselves priests of the shrines, who officiated for them in the shrines of the high places. ³³ They continued to fear Adonai, but worshipped their own gods, after the custom of the nations from which they had been deported.

³⁴ Up to this day, they follow their former customs. Nor do they fear Adonai, or follow the statutes, the ordinances, the Torah or the mitzvot that Adonai commanded the children of Jacob—whom He had renamed Israel. ³⁵ With them Adonai had made a covenant, and charged them saying, “You will not fear other gods, or bow down to them, or serve them, or sacrifice to them, ³⁶ but only Adonai, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm—Him will you fear, and to Him will you bow down and to Him will you sacrifice. ³⁷ The statutes and the ordinances, and the Torah and the mitzvah, which He wrote for you, you will take care to do all the time. You are not to fear other gods. ³⁸ The covenant that I have made with you, you will not forget. Nor will you fear other gods, ³⁹ but Adonai your God will you fear. Then He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”

⁴⁰ Yet they did not listen, but they continued their former practices. ⁴¹ So while these nations feared Adonai, they also worshipped their idols. Their children and grandchildren do as their fathers did to this day.