Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading Plan
April 10
2 Kings 15-17
Chapter 15
Series of Kings: Azariah (Uzziah) over Judah
1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah
king of Judah became king.
2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years
in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
3 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah
had done.
4 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and
burned incense on the high places.
5 The Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death.
And he lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was over
the household, judging 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 And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in
the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.
Zechariah over Israel
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of
Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.
9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not depart
from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
10 Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before
the people and killed him, and reigned 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 is the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your
sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so
it was.
13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king
of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria.
14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck
Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place.
15 Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold
they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
16 Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah,
because they did not open to him; therefore he struck it and ripped up all
its women who were with child.
Menahem over Israel
17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became
king over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria.
18 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from
the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
19 Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand
talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom
under his rule.
20 Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of
wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So
the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there 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 And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his
place.
Pekahiah over Israel
23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became
king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.
24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam
son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
25 Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck
him in Samaria, in the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh;
and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and 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.
Pekah over Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah
became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.
28 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam
son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.
29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came
and captured Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and
Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to
Assyria.
30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah,
and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth
year of Jotham the 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.
Jotham over Judah
32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the
son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.
33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen
years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.
34 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all
that his father Uzziah had done.
35 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and
burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of
the Lord.
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 the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah the son
of Remaliah against Judah.
38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the
city of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.
Chapter
16
Ahaz Reigns over Judah
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham,
king of Judah, became king.
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years
in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his
God, as his father David had done.
3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son
pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom
the Lord
had driven out from before the sons of Israel.
4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and
under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came
up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome
him.
6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and cleared the
Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have
lived there to this day.
Ahaz Seeks Help of Aram
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king 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 the Lord and
in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of
Assyria.
9 So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up
against Damascus and captured it, and carried the people of it away into
exile to Kir,
and put Rezin to death.
Damascus Falls
10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria,
and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the
priest the pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship.
11 So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had
sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of
King Ahaz
from Damascus.
12 When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then the king
approached the altar and went up to it,
13 and burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his drink
offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14 The bronze altar, which was before the Lord, he brought from the front
of the house, from between his altar and the house of the Lord, and he put
it on the north side of his altar.
15 Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great
altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening meal offering and the
king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of
all the people of the land and their meal offering and their drink offerings;
and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the
sacrifice. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”
16 So Urijah the priest did according to all that 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 which were under
it and put it on a pavement of stone.
18 The covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the
outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of the Lord because of the
king of Assyria.
Hezekiah Reigns over Judah
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 So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the
city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Chapter 17
Hoshea Reigns over Israel
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah
became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, only not as the kings of Israel who
were before him.
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his
servant and paid him tribute.
4 But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers
to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he
had done year by year; so the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in
prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria
and besieged it three years.
Israel Captive
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried
Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on
the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
Why Israel Fell
7 Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord
their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the
hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods
8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out
before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which
they had
introduced.
9 The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the
Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their
towns,
from watchtower to fortified city.
10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill
and under every green tree,
11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did
which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things
provoking
the Lord.
12 They served idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You
shall not do this thing.”
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every
seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My
statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I
sent to you through My servants the prophets.”
14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers,
who did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their
fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity
and became
vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the
Lord had commanded them not to do like them.
16 They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves
molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all
the host of heaven and served Baal.
17 Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and
practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in
the sight of the Lord, provoking Him.
18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight;
none was left except the tribe of Judah.
19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked
in the customs which Israel had introduced.
20 The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and
gave 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
the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the
Lord
and made them commit a great sin.
22 The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they
did not depart from them
23 until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all
His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their
own land to Assyria until this day.
Cities of Israel Filled with Strangers
24 The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from
Avva and from Hamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities
of Samaria
in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its
cities.
25 At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the Lord; therefore
the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them.
26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you
have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom
of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill
them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests
whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him
teach them the custom of the god of the land.”
28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria
came and lived at 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 houses
of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their
cities
in which they lived.
30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the
men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their
children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests
of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared the Lord and served their own gods according to the custom of
the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.
34 To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the
Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or
the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named
Israel;
35 with whom the Lord made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You
shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them
nor sacrifice to them.
36 “But the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great
power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall
bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
37 “The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which
He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other
gods.
38 “The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor
shall you fear other gods.
39 “But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from
the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.
41 So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols;
their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they
do to this day.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)