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

1 In Ahaz's twelfth year as king of Judah, Hoshea, son of Elah, began to rule as king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for nine years.

2 He did what the LORD considered evil, but he didn't do what the kings of Israel before him had done.

3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria defeated Hoshea, who became his servant and was required to make annual payments to him.

4 The king of Assyria found Hoshea to be a traitor. (Hoshea had sent messengers to King Dais of Egypt and had stopped making annual payments to the king of Assyria.) So the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison.

5 Then the king of Assyria attacked the entire country. He attacked Samaria and blockaded it for three years.

6 In Hoshea's ninth year as king of Israel, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 The Israelites sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt [and rescued them] from the power of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). They worshiped other gods

8 and lived by the customs of the nations that the LORD had forced out of the Israelites' way. They also did what their kings wanted them to do.

9 The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that weren't right: They built for themselves illegal places of worship in all of their cities, from the [smallest] watchtower to the [largest] fortified city.

10 They set up sacred stones and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah on every high hill and under every large tree.

11 At all the illegal places of worship, they sacrificed in the same way as the nations that the LORD had removed from the land ahead of them. They did evil things and made the LORD furious.

12 They served idols, although the LORD had said, "Never do this."

13 The LORD had warned Israel and Judah through every kind of prophet and seer, "Turn from your evil ways, and obey my commands and decrees as I commanded your ancestors in all my teachings, the commands I sent to you through my servants the prophets."

14 But they refused to listen. They became as impossible to deal with as their ancestors who refused to trust the LORD their God.

15 They rejected his decrees, the promise he made to their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and became as worthless as the idols. They behaved like the nations around them, although the LORD had commanded them not to do that.

16 They abandoned all the commands of the LORD their God: They made two calves out of cast metal. They made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah. They prayed to the entire army of heaven. They worshiped Baal.

17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters by burning them alive. They practiced black magic and cast evil spells. They sold themselves by doing what the LORD considered evil, and they made him furious.

18 The LORD became so angry with Israel that he removed them from his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

19 Even Judah didn't obey the commands of the LORD their God but lived according to Israel's customs.

20 So the LORD rejected all of Israel's descendants, made them suffer, handed them over to those who looted their property, and finally turned away from Israel.

21 When he tore Israel away from the family of David, the people of Israel made Jeroboam (Nebat's son) king. Jeroboam forced Israel away from the LORD and led them to commit a serious sin.

22 The Israelites followed all the sins Jeroboam committed and never turned away from them.

23 Finally, the LORD turned away from Israel as he had said he would through all his servants, the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their land to Assyria as captives, and they are still there today.

24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its cities.

25 When they first came to live there, they didn't worship the LORD. So the LORD sent lions to kill some of them.

26 Then someone said to the king of Assyria, "The people you took as captives and settled in the cities of Samaria don't know the customs of the god of that country, so he sent lions. Now the lions are killing them because they don't know the customs of the god of this country."

27 The king of Assyria gave this command: "Bring one of the priests you captured from there. Let him go back to teach them the customs of the god of that country."

28 So one of the priests who had been taken prisoner from Samaria went to live in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the LORD.

29 But each group [that settled in Samaria] continued to make its own gods. They put them at the illegal places of worship, which the people of Samaria had made. Each group did this in the cities where they lived:

30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth. The people from Cuth made Nergal. The people from Hamath made Ashima.

31 The people from Avva made Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim burned their children for Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 So while these people were worshiping the LORD, they also appointed all kinds of people to serve as priests for the shrines at their illegal places of worship.

33 They worshiped the LORD but also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had come.

34 Today they are still following their customs, as they've done from the beginning. They don't fear the LORD or live by the decrees, customs, teachings, or commands that the LORD gave to the descendants of Jacob (whom he named Israel).

35 When the LORD made a promise to Israel, he commanded, "Never worship other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them.

36 Instead, worship the LORD, who used his great power and a mighty arm to bring you out of Egypt. Bow down to the LORD, and sacrifice to him.

37 Faithfully obey the laws, rules, teachings, and commands that he wrote for you: 'Never worship other gods.

38 Never forget the promise I made to you. Never worship other gods.

39 Instead, worship the LORD your God, and he will rescue you from your enemies.'"

40 The people of Israel had refused to listen and made up their own rules, as they had done from the beginning.

41 These [other] nations worshiped the LORD but also served their own idols. So did their children and their grandchildren. They still do whatever their ancestors did.

1 King Hoshea, son of Elah, had been king in Israel for three years when King Hezekiah, son of Ahaz of Judah, began to rule as king.

2 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.

3 He did what the LORD considered right, as his ancestor David had done.

4 He got rid of the illegal places of worship, crushed the sacred stones, and cut down the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. He even crushed the bronze snake that Moses had made because up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan.

5 Hezekiah trusted the LORD God of Israel. No king among all the kings of Judah was like Hezekiah.

6 He was loyal to the LORD and never turned away from him. He obeyed the commands that the LORD had given through Moses,

7 so the LORD was with him. He succeeded in everything he tried: He rebelled against the king of Assyria and wouldn't serve him anymore.

8 He conquered the Philistines from the [smallest] watchtower to the [largest] fortified city all the way to Gaza and its territory.

9 In Hezekiah's fourth year as king (which was the seventh year in the reign of King Hoshea, son of Elah of Israel) King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked Samaria, blockaded it,

10 and captured it at the end of three years. Samaria was taken in Hezekiah's sixth year as king (which was Hoshea's ninth year as king of Israel).

11 The king of Assyria took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He put them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

12 This happened because they refused to obey the LORD their God and disregarded the conditions of the promise he made to them. They refused to obey everything that Moses, the LORD's servant, had commanded.

13 In Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

14 Then King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Go away, and leave me alone. I'll pay whatever penalty you give me." So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.

15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be found in the LORD's temple and in the royal palace treasury.

16 At that time Hezekiah stripped [the gold] off the doors and doorposts of the LORD's temple. ([Earlier] Hezekiah had them covered [with gold].) He gave the gold to the king of Assyria.

17 Then the king of Assyria sent his commander-in-chief, his quartermaster, and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came there and stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman's Field.

18 When they called for King Hezekiah, Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander.

19 He said to them, "Tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident?

20 You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom, then, do you trust for support in your rebellion against me?

21 Now, look! When you trust Egypt, you're trusting a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) is like for everyone who trusts him.

22 Suppose you tell me, "We're trusting the LORD our God." He's the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. He told Judah and Jerusalem, "Worship at this altar in Jerusalem."'

23 "Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them.

24 How can you defeat my master's lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?

25 "Have I come to destroy this place without the LORD on my side? The LORD said to me, 'Attack this country, and destroy it.'"

26 Then Eliakim (son of Hilkiah), Shebnah, and Joah said to the field commander, "Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening."

27 But the field commander asked them, "Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Didn't he send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?"

28 Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language, "Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria.

29 This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah deceive you. He can't rescue you from me.

30 Don't let Hezekiah get you to trust the LORD by saying, 'The LORD will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.'

31 Don't listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern.

32 Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It's a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards, a country with olive trees, olive oil, and honey. Live! Don't die! Don't listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying to you, 'The LORD will rescue us.'

33 Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my control?

35 Did the gods of those countries rescue them from my control? Could the LORD then rescue Jerusalem from my control?"

36 But the people were silent and didn't say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.

37 Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.

19 This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil.

20 People who do what is wrong hate the light and don't come to the light. They don't want their actions to be exposed.

21 But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen.

22 Later, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them and baptized people.

23 John was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim. Water was plentiful there. (People came to John to be baptized,

24 since John had not yet been put in prison.)

25 Some of John's disciples had an argument with a Jew about purification ceremonies.

26 So they went to John and asked him, "Rabbi, do you remember the man you spoke so favorably about when he was with you on the other side of the Jordan River? Well, he's baptizing, and everyone is going to him!"

27 John answered, "People can't receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven.

28 You are witnesses that I said, 'I'm not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of him.'

29 "The groom is the person to whom the bride belongs. The best man, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed when the groom speaks. This is the joy that I feel.

30 He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance.

31 "The person who comes from above is superior to everyone. I, a person from the earth, know nothing but what is on earth, and that's all I can talk about. The person who comes from heaven is superior to everyone

32 and tells what he has seen and heard. Yet, no one accepts what he says.

33 I have accepted what that person said, and I have affirmed that God is truthful.

34 The man whom God has sent speaks God's message. After all, God gives him the Spirit without limit.

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

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, he will see God's constant anger."