2 Kings 17; 2 Kings 18; John 3:19-36

2 Kings 17

1 In the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for nine years.

2 He sinned against the Lord, but not as much as the kings who had ruled Israel before him.

3 Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria made war against him; Hoshea surrendered to Shalmaneser and paid him tribute every year.

4 But one year Hoshea sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, asking for his help, and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learned of this, he had Hoshea arrested and put in prison.

5 Then Shalmaneser invaded Israel and besieged Samaria. In the third year of the siege,

6 which was the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the Assyrian emperor captured Samaria, took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners, and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan and some in the cities of Media.

7 Samaria fell because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the king of Egypt and had led them out of Egypt. They worshiped other gods,

8 followed the customs of the people whom the Lord had driven out as his people advanced, and adopted customs introduced by the kings of Israel.

9 The Israelites did things that the Lord their God disapproved of. They built pagan places of worship in all their towns, from the smallest village to the largest city.

10 On all the hills and under every shady tree they put up stone pillars and images of the goddess Asherah,

11 and they burned incense on all the pagan altars, following the practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land. They aroused the Lord's anger with all their wicked deeds

12 and disobeyed the Lord's command not to worship idols.

13 The Lord had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: "Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets."

14 But they would not obey; they were stubborn like their ancestors, who had not trusted in the Lord their God.

15 They refused to obey his instructions, they did not keep the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they disregarded his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves, and they followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying the Lord's command not to imitate them.

16 They broke all the laws of the Lord their God and made two metal bull-calves to worship; they also made an image of the goddess Asherah, worshiped the stars, and served the god Baal.

17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord's sight, and so aroused his anger.

18 The Lord was angry with the Israelites and banished them from his sight, leaving only the kingdom of Judah.

19 But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the Lord their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.

20 The Lord rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.

21 After the Lord had separated Israel from Judah, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam caused them to abandon the Lord and led them into terrible sins.

22 They followed Jeroboam and continued to practice all the sins he had committed,

23 until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live.

24 The emperor of Assyria took people from the cities of Babylon, Cuth, Ivvah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the exiled Israelites. They took possession of these cities and lived there.

25 When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them.

26 The emperor of Assyria was told that the people he had settled in the cities of Samaria did not know the law of the god of that land, and so the god had sent lions, which were killing them.

27 So the emperor commanded: "Send back one of the priests we brought as prisoners; have him go back and live there, in order to teach the people the law of the god of that land."

28 So an Israelite priest who had been deported from Samaria went and lived in Bethel, where he taught the people how to worship the Lord.

29 But the people who settled in Samaria continued to make their own idols, and they placed them in the shrines that the Israelites had built. Each different group made idols in the cities they were living in:

30 the people of Babylon made idols of the god Succoth Benoth; the people of Cuth, idols of Nergal; the people of Hamath, idols of Ashima;

31 the people of Ivvah, idols of Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim sacrificed their children as burnt offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.

32 These people also worshiped the Lord and chose from among their own number all sorts of people to serve as priests at the pagan places of worship and to offer sacrifices for them there.

33 So they worshiped the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the customs of the countries from which they had come.

34 They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the Lord nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

35 The Lord had made a covenant with them and had ordered them: "Do not worship other gods; do not bow down to them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them.

36 You shall obey me, the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great power and strength; you are to bow down to me and offer sacrifices to me.

37 You shall always obey the laws and commands that I wrote for you. You shall not obey other gods,

38 and you shall not forget the covenant I made with you.

39 You shall obey me, the Lord your God, and I will rescue you from your enemies."

40 But those people would not listen, and they continued to follow their old customs.

41 So those people worshiped the Lord, but they also worshiped their idols; and to this day their descendants continue to do the same.

2 Kings 18

1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah as king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah

2 at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

4 He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time.

6 He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses.

7 So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him.

8 He defeated the Philistines and raided their settlements, from the smallest village to the largest city, including Gaza and its surrounding territory.

9 In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign - which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel - Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria.

10 In the third year of the siege Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea's reign.

11 The Assyrian emperor took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

12 Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

14 Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: "I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand." The emperor's answer was that Hezekiah should send him ten tons of silver and one ton of gold.

15 Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury;

16 he also stripped the gold from the temple doors and the gold with which he himself had covered the doorposts, and he sent it all to Sennacherib.

17 The Assyrian emperor sent a large army from Lachish to attack Hezekiah at Jerusalem; it was commanded by his three highest officials. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they occupied the road where the cloth makers work by the ditch that brings water from the upper pool.

18 Then they sent for King Hezekiah, and three of his officials went out to meet them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace; Shebna, the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, who was in charge of the records.

19 One of the Assyrian officials told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident.

20 He demanded, "Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria?

21 You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick - it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him."

22 The Assyrian official went on, "Or will you tell me that you are relying on the Lord your God? It was the Lord's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed, when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar in Jerusalem.

23 I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many men to ride them!

24 You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry!

25 Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord's help? The Lord himself told me to attack it and destroy it."

26 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, "Speak Aramaic to us, sir. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening."

27 He replied, "Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will."

28 Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, "Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you!

29 He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you.

30 And don't let him persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don't think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city.

31 Don't listen to Hezekiah. The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells -

32 until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread; it is a land of olives, olive oil, and honey. If you do what he commands, you will not die, but live. Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the Lord will rescue you.

33 Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria?

34 Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did anyone save Samaria?

35 When did any of the gods of all these countries ever save their country from our emperor? Then what makes you think the Lord can save Jerusalem?"

36 The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word.

37 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes in grief, and went and reported to the king what the Assyrian official had said.

John 3:19-36

19 This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil.

20 Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up.

21 But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the province of Judea, where he spent some time with them and baptized.

23 John also was baptizing in Aenon, not far from Salim, because there was plenty of water in that place. People were going to him, and he was baptizing them

24 (This was before John had been put in prison.)

25 Some of John's disciples began arguing with a Jew about the matter of ritual washing.

26 So they went to John and told him, "Teacher, you remember the man who was with you on the east side of the Jordan, the one you spoke about? Well, he is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him!"

27 John answered, "No one can have anything unless God gives it.

28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, "I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.'

29 The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete.

30 He must become more important while I become less important."

31 He who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly matters, but he who comes from heaven is above all.

32 He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message.

33 But whoever accepts his message confirms by this that God is truthful.

34 The one whom God has sent speaks God's words, because God gives him the fullness of his Spirit.

35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power.

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment.