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

1 Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel during Ahaz's twelfth year as king of Judah. Hoshea ruled in Samaria nine years.

2 He did what the Lord said was wrong, but he was not as bad as the kings of Israel who had ruled before him.

3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came to attack Hoshea. Hoshea had been Shalmaneser's servant and had made the payments to Shalmaneser that he had demanded.

4 But the king of Assyria found out that Hoshea had made plans against him by sending messengers to So, the king of Egypt. Hoshea had also stopped giving Shalmaneser the payments, which he had paid every year in the past. For that, the king put Hoshea in prison.

5 Then the king of Assyria came and attacked all the land of Israel. He surrounded Samaria and attacked it for three years.

6 He defeated Samaria in the ninth year Hoshea was king, and he took the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 All these things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of the king of Egypt, but the Israelites had honored other gods.

8 They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them,

9 secretly sinning against the Lord their God. They built places to worship gods in all their cities, from the watchtower to the strong, walled city.

10 They put up stone pillars to gods and Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree.

11 The Israelites burned incense everywhere gods were worshiped, just as the nations who lived there before them had done, whom the Lord had forced out of the land. The Israelites did wicked things that made the Lord angry.

12 They served idols when the Lord had said, "You must not do this."

13 The Lord used every prophet and seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, "Stop your evil ways and obey my commands and laws. Follow all the teachings that I commanded your ancestors, the teachings that I gave you through my servants the prophets."

14 But the people would not listen. They were stubborn, just as their ancestors had been who did not believe in the Lord their God.

15 They rejected the Lord's laws and the agreement he had made with their ancestors. And they refused to listen to his warnings. They worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves. They did what the nations around them did, which the Lord had warned them not to do.

16 The people rejected all the commands of the Lord their God. They molded statues of two calves, and they made an Asherah idol. They worshiped all the stars of the sky and served Baal.

17 They made their sons and daughters pass through fire and tried to find out the future by magic and witchcraft. They always chose to do what the Lord said was wrong, which made him angry.

18 Because he was very angry with the people of Israel, he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

19 But even Judah did not obey the commands of the Lord their God. They did what the Israelites had done,

20 so the Lord rejected all the people of Israel. He punished them and let others destroy them; he threw them out of his presence.

21 When the Lord separated them from the family of David, the Israelites made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam led the Israelites away from the Lord and led them to sin greatly.

22 So they continued to do all the sins Jeroboam did. They did not stop doing these sins

23 until the Lord removed the Israelites from his presence, just as he had said through all his servants the prophets. So the Israelites were taken out of their land to Assyria, and they have been there to this day.

24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and put them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. These people took over Samaria and lived in the cities.

25 At first they did not worship the Lord, so he sent lions among them which killed some of them.

26 The king of Assyria was told, "You sent foreigners into the cities of Samaria who do not know the law of the god of the land. This is why he has sent lions among them. The lions are killing them because they don't know what the god wants."

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send back one of the priests you took away. Let him live there and teach the people what the god wants."

28 So one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria returned to live in Bethel. And he taught the people how to honor the Lord.

29 But each nation made gods of its own and put them in the cities where they lived and in the temples where gods were worshiped. These temples had been built by the Samaritans.

30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth their god. The people from Cuthah worshiped Nergal. The people of Hamath worshiped Ashima.

31 The Avvites worshiped Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites burned their children in the fire, sacrificing them to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 They also honored the Lord, but they chose priests for the places where gods were worshiped. The priests were chosen from among themselves, and they made sacrifices for the people.

33 The people honored the Lord but also served their own gods, just as the nations did from which they had been brought.

34 Even today they do as they did in the past. They do not worship the Lord nor obey his rules and commands. They do not obey the teachings or the commands of the Lord, which he gave to the children of Jacob, whom he had named Israel.

35 The Lord had made an agreement with them and had commanded them, "Do not honor other gods. Do not bow down to them or worship them or offer sacrifices to them.

36 Worship the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and strength. Bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him.

37 Always obey the rules, orders, teachings, and commands he wrote for you. Do not honor other gods.

38 Do not forget the agreement I made with you, and do not honor other gods.

39 Instead worship the Lord your God, who will save you from all your enemies."

40 But the Israelites did not listen. They kept on doing the same things they had done before.

41 So these nations honored the Lord but also worshiped their idols, and their children and grandchildren still do as their ancestors did.

1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king during the third year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel.

2 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

3 Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as his ancestor David had done.

4 He removed the places where gods were worshiped. He smashed the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah idols. Also the Israelites had been burning incense to Nehushtan, the bronze snake Moses had made. But Hezekiah broke it into pieces.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

6 Hezekiah was loyal to the Lord and did not stop following him; he obeyed the commands the Lord had given Moses.

7 And the Lord was with Hezekiah, so he had success in everything he did. He turned against the king of Assyria and stopped serving him.

8 Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its borders, including the watchtowers and the strong, walled cities.

9 Shalmaneser king of Assyria surrounded Samaria and attacked it in the fourth year Hezekiah was king. This was the seventh year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel.

10 After three years the Assyrians captured Samaria. This was in the sixth year Hezekiah was king, which was Hoshea's ninth year as king of Israel.

11 The king of Assyria took the Israelites away to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

12 This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement and did not obey all that Moses, the Lord's servant, had commanded. They would not listen to the commands or do them.

13 During Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the strong, walled cities of Judah and captured them.

14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. He said, "I have done wrong. Leave me alone, and I will pay anything you ask." So the king of Assyria made Hezekiah pay about twenty-two thousand pounds of silver and two thousand pounds of gold.

15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasuries.

16 Hezekiah stripped all the gold that covered the doors and doorposts of the Temple of the Lord. Hezekiah had put gold on these doors himself, but he gave it all to the king of Assyria.

17 The king of Assyria sent out his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander. They went with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When they came near the waterway from the upper pool on the road where people do their laundry, they stopped.

18 They called for the king, so the king sent Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah out to meet them. Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager, Shebna was the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.

19 The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah this: "'The great king, the king of Assyria, says: What can you trust in now?

20 You say you have battle plans and power for war, but your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me?

21 Look, you are depending on Egypt to help you, but Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. If you lean on it for help, it will stab your hand and hurt you. The king of Egypt will hurt all those who depend on him.

22 You might say, "We are depending on the Lord our God," but Hezekiah destroyed the Lord's altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem."

23 "'Now make an agreement with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough men to ride them.

24 You cannot defeat one of my master's least important officers, so why do you depend on Egypt to give you chariots and horsemen?

25 I have not come to attack and destroy this place without an order from the Lord. The Lord himself told me to come to this country and destroy it.'"

26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew, because the people on the city wall can hear you."

27 "No," the commander said, "my master did not send me to tell these things only to you and your king. He sent me to speak also to those people sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own dung and drink their own urine like you."

28 Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria, says!

29 The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you, because he can't save you from my power.

30 Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely save us. This city won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.'

31 "Don't listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, 'Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well.

32 After that I will come and take you to a land like your own -- a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olives, and honey. Choose to live and not to die!' "Don't listen to Hezekiah. He is fooling you when he says, 'The Lord will save us.'

33 Has a god of any other nation saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? They did not save Samaria from my power.

35 Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power."

36 The people were silent. They didn't answer the commander at all, because King Hezekiah had ordered, "Don't answer him."

37 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes to show how upset they were. (Eliakim son of Hilkiah was the palace manager, Shebna was the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph was the recorder.) The three men went to Hezekiah and told him what the field commander had said.

19 They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things.

20 All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do.

21 But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God."

22 After this, Jesus and his followers went into the area of Judea, where he stayed with his followers and baptized people.

23 John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were going there to be baptized.

24 (This was before John was put into prison.)

25 Some of John's followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing.

26 So they came to John and said, "Teacher, remember the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about so much? He is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

27 John answered, "A man can get only what God gives him.

28 You yourselves heard me say, 'I am not the Christ, but I am the one sent to prepare the way for him.'

29 The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. But the friend who helps the bridegroom stands by and listens to him. He is thrilled that he gets to hear the bridegroom's voice. In the same way, I am really happy.

30 He must become greater, and I must become less important.

31 "The One who comes from above is greater than all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One who comes from heaven is greater than all.

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

33 Whoever accepts what he says has proven that God is true.

34 The One whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God gives him the Spirit fully.

35 The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything.

36 Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life. God's anger stays on them."