The Daily Audio Bible

Hoshea Reigns over Israel; Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshe′a the son of Elah began to reign in Samar′ia over Israel, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³ Against him came up Shalmane′ser king of Assyria; and Hoshe′a became his vassal, and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshe′a; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute 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 invaded all the land and came to Samar′ia, and for three years he besieged it. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshe′a the king of Assyria captured Samar′ia, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who 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 customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced.^{[a] 9} And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; ¹⁰ they set up for themselves pillars and Ashe′rim on every high hill and under every green tree; ¹¹ and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, ¹² and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” ¹³ Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves; and they made an Ashe′rah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Ba′al. ¹⁷ And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings,^[b] and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.^[c]

¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

²¹ When he had torn Israel from the house of David they made Jerobo′am the son of Nebat king. And Jerobo′am drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. ²² The people of Israel walked in all the sins which Jerobo′am did; they did not depart from them, ²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 [d]And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharva′im, and placed them in the cities of Samar′ia instead of the people of Israel; and they took possession of Samar′ia, and dwelt in its cities. ²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samar′ia do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away thence; and let him^[e] go and dwell there, and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samar′ia came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own, and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they dwelt; ³⁰ the men of Babylon made Suc′coth-be′noth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashi′ma, ³¹ and the Av′vites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sephar′vites burned their children in the fire to Adram′melech and Anam′melech, the gods of Sepharva′im. ³² They also feared the Lord, and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ³³ So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. ³⁴ To this day they do according to the former manner.

They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. ³⁵ The Lord made a covenant with them, and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them; ³⁶ but you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, ³⁸ and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, ³⁹ but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

⁴¹ So these nations feared the Lord, and also served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Hezekiah’s Reign over Judah

18 In the third year of Hoshe′a son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezeki′ah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechari′ah. ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashe′rah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it; it was called Nehush′tan. ⁵ He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ⁶ For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses. ⁷ And the Lord was with him; wherever he went forth, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve him. ⁸ He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezeki′ah, which was the seventh year of Hoshe′a son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmane′ser king of Assyria came up against Samar′ia and besieged it ¹⁰ and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezeki′ah, which was the ninth year of Hoshe′a king of Israel, Samar′ia was taken. ¹¹ The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.

Paul Goes to Macedonia and Greece

20 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and having exhorted them took leave of them and departed for Macedo′nia. ² When he had gone through these parts and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. ³ There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedo′nia. ⁴ Sop′ater of Beroe′a, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalo′nians, Aristar′chus and Secun′dus; and Ga′ius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tych′icus and Troph′imus. ⁵ These went on and were waiting for us at Tro′as, ⁶ but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Tro′as, where we stayed for seven days.

Paul’s Farewell Visit to Troas

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,^[a] Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eu′tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the lad away alive, and were not a little comforted.

The Voyage from Troas to Miletus

¹³ But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there; for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mityle′ne. ¹⁵ And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chi′os; the next day we touched at Samos; and^[b] the day after that we came to Mile′tus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ And from Mile′tus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

Paul’s Journey to Jerusalem

“You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, ²¹ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; ²³ except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. ²⁵ And now, behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will see my face no more. ²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, ²⁷ for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. ²⁸ Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians, to feed the church of the Lord^[c] which he obtained with his own blood.^{[d] 29} I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me.^{[e] 35} In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, ³⁸ sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they brought him to the ship.

Praise for God’s Universal Glory