Kings IV 17
1 In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda began Osee the son of Ela to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
Elah’s son Hoshea began to rule Israel after King Ahaz had ruled Judah for twelve years. Hoshea ruled in Samaria for nine years.
2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, only not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, but he did not do as many evil things as the previous kings of Israel had done.
3 Against him came up Salamanassar king of the Assyrians; and Osee became his servant, and rendered him tribute.
[The army of] King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked and defeated [the army of] King Hoshea. As a result, the Israelis were forced to pay a lot of tribute/taxes to Assyria each year.
4 And the king of the Assyrians found iniquity in Osee, in that he sent messengers to Segor king of Egypt, and brought not a tribute to the king of the Assyrians in that year: and the king of the Assyrians besieged him, and bound him in the prison-house.
But several years later, Hoshea secretly planned to rebel against the rulers of Assyria. He sent messengers to So/Osorkon, the king of Egypt, [asking if his army could help the Israelis fight against the army of Assyria]. Hoshea also stopped paying the tribute/taxes that he had been paying to Assyria every year. But the king of Assyria found out about those things, so he told his officers to put Hoshea in prison.
5 And the king of the Assyrians went up against all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it [for] three years.
Then he [brought the army of] Assyria to Israel, and they attacked everywhere in that land. His army surrounded Samaria [city] for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Osee the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to the Assyrians, and settled them in Alae, and in Abor, [near] the rivers of Gozan, and [in] the mountains of the Medes.
Finally, after King Hoshea had been ruling Israel for nine years, the army of Assyria [MTY] [forcefully entered] the city [and] captured [the people]. They took the Israeli people to Assyria and forced some of them to live in Halah [town]. They forced others to live near the Habor River in Gozan district. They forced others to live in the towns where the Mede people-group lived.
7 For it came to pass that the children of Israel [had] transgressed against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt, and they feared other gods,
Those things happened because the Israeli people had sinned against Yahweh their God. He had rescued their [ancestors] from the power [MTY] of the king of Egypt and brought them [safely] out of Egypt, but later they began to worship other gods.
8 and walked in the statutes of the nations which the Lord cast out before the face of the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel as many as did [such things],
They imitated the things that the heathen/pagan people-groups did. Those were the groups that Yahweh had expelled as the Israelis occupied their land. The Israeli people also did the evil things that the kings of Israel (introduced/showed to them).
9 and [in those] of the children of Israel as many as secretly practised customs, not as [they should have done], against the Lord their God:
The Israeli people also secretly did many things that were not pleasing to Yahweh their God. They built shrines [to worship idols] in all their cities, including small towns and big cities with walls around them.
10 and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. And they made for themselves pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree.
They set up stone pillars [to honor gods], and poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah at the top of every high hill and under every [big] tree.
11 And burned incense there on all high places, as the nations [did] whom the Lord removed from before them, and dealt with familiar spirits, and they carved [images] to provoke the Lord to anger.
The Israelis burned incense in every place where they worshiped those gods, just like the people-groups who lived there previously had done—the groups that Yahweh had expelled from the land. The Israelis did many wicked things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
12 And they served the idols, of which the Lord said to them, You shall not do this thing [against] the Lord.
Yahweh warned them many times that they should not worship idols, but they did it anyway.
13 And the Lord testified against Israel and against Juda, even by the hand of all his prophets, [and] of every seer, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, and all the law which I commanded your fathers, [and] all that I sent to them by the hand of my servants the prophets.
Yahweh frequently sent his prophets and (seers/those who saw visions from Yahweh) to warn the people of Israel and the people of Judah. The message that Yahweh gave them was, “Turn away from all your evil behavior. Obey my commands and my laws, the laws that I told your ancestors [to obey] and which I told the prophets who served me to tell to you [again].”
14 But they listened not, and made their neck harder than the neck of their fathers.
But the Israeli people would not pay attention. They were stubborn [IDM] just like their ancestors were. Just like their ancestors did, they refused to believe in Yahweh their God.
15 And they kept not any of his testimonies which he charged them; and they walked after vanities, and became vain, and after the nations round about them, concerning which the Lord had charged them not to do accordingly.
They rejected Yahweh’s laws and the agreement that he had made with their ancestors. They ignored Yahweh’s warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and as a result they themselves became worthless. Although Yahweh had commanded them not to imitate the evil behavior of the people-groups that lived near them, they disobeyed that command.
16 They forsook the commandments of the Lord their God, and made themselves graven images, [even] two heifers, and they made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
The Israeli people disobeyed all of Yahweh’s commands. They made two metal calves [to worship]. They set up two poles [to worship the goddess] Asherah, and they worshiped [the god] Baal, and the sun, the moon, and the stars.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divinations and auspices, and sold themselves to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him.
They also burned their own sons and daughters to be sacrifices [to those gods]. They went to fortune-tellers and they practiced sorcery. They continually chose [MET] to do [all kinds of] evil things that caused Yahweh to become angry.
18 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; and there was only left the tribe of Juda quite alone.
So, because Yahweh was very angry with the Israeli people, he allowed [their enemies] to take them away [from their country]. Only the people of the tribe of Judah were left [in the land].
19 Nay even Juda kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but they walked according to the customs of Israel which they practised, and rejected the Lord.
But even the people of Judah did not obey the commands of Yahweh their God. They imitated the evil customs that the Israelis had introduced.
20 And the Lord was angry with the whole seed of Israel, and troubled them, and gave them into the hand of them that spoiled them, until he cast them out of his presence.
So Yahweh rejected all the people of Israel and of Judah. He punished them by allowing the armies of other nations to defeat them [and take them away]. He got rid of all of them.
21 Forasmuch as Israel revolted from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nabat king: and Jeroboam drew off Israel from following the Lord, and led them to sin a great sin.
Earlier, when Yahweh allowed the people of Israel to separate/break away from the area [MTY] that King David [had estabished], they chose Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, to be their king. Then Jeroboam enticed the people of Israel to stop worshiping Yahweh [and to worship idols instead]. He led them to commit great sins.
22 And the children of Israel walked in all the sin of Jeroboam which he committed; they departed not from it,
And the Israeli people continued to do the evil things that Jeroboam introduced. They did not turn away from those sins,
23 until the Lord removed Israel from his presence, as the Lord spoke by all his servants the prophets; and Israel was removed from off their land to the Assyrians until this day.
until finally Yahweh got rid of them. That was just what his prophets had warned would happen. The Israeli people were taken away to the land of Assyria, and they still remain there.
24 And the king of Assyria brought from Babylon the men of Chutha, [and men] from Aia, and from Aemath, and Seppharvaim, and they were settled in the cities of Samaria in the place of the children of Israel: and they inherited Samaria, and were settled in its cities.
The king of Assyria [ordered his soldiers to] take [groups of] people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim [cities] to [the] Samaria [region], and to resettle them in the towns there, to take the place of the Israelis [who lived there previously]. Those people took control over [the whole] Samaria [region] and lived in the towns there.
25 And it was so at the beginning of their establishment there [that] they feared not the Lord, and the Lord sent lions among them, and they killed some of them.
But those people [who came from other countries] did not worship Yahweh when they first arrived in Samaria. So Yahweh sent lions to kill some of them.
26 And they spoke to the king of the Assyrians, saying, The nations whom you have removed and substituted in the cities of Samaria [for the Israelites], know not the manner of the God of the land: and he has sent the lions against them, and, behold, they are slaying them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then those people sent a message to the king of Assyria. They wrote, “We people who have resettled in the towns in Samaria do not know how to worship the God [that the Israelis worshiped] in this land. So he has sent lions among us to kill us, because we have not worshiped him correctly.”
27 And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying, Bring some [Israelites] thence, and let them go and dwell there, and they shall teach them the manner of the God of the land.
[When] the king of Assyria [read this letter, he] commanded [his officers], “You brought many priests here from Samaria. Send one of them back there. Tell him to teach the people who are now living there how to worship correctly the God whom the Israelis worshiped in that land.”
28 And they brought one of the priests whom they had removed from Samaria, and he settled in Baethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
So [the officers did that]. They sent one of the Israeli priests back to Samaria. That priest went to live in Bethel [city], and he taught the people there how to worship Yahweh.
29 But the nations made each their own gods, and put them in the house of the high places which the Samaritans [had] made, each nation in the cities in which they lived.
But the people [who returned from Babylon and started to live in Samaria and] continued to make their own idols. They placed them in the shrines that the Israelis had built there. The people of each people-group made idols in the cities in which they were living.
30 And the men of Babylon made Socchoth Benith, and the men of Chuth made Ergel, and the men of Haemath made Asimath.
The people from Babylon made idols to represent their god Succoth-Benoth. The people from Cuthah made idols to represent their god Nergal. The people from Hamath made idols to represent their god Ashima.
31 And the Evites made Eblazer and Tharthac, and the [inhabitant] of Seppharvaim [did evil] when they burnt their sons in the fire to Adramelech and Anemelech, the gods of Seppharvaim.
The people of Avva made idols to represent their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim sacrificed their own children. They completely burned them [in pits where hot fires were kept burning, ] as offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
32 And they feared the Lord, yet they established their abominations in the houses of the high places which they made in Samaria, each nation in the city in which they lived: and they feared the Lord, and they made for themselves priests of the high places, and sacrificed for themselves in the house of the high places.
But those people also worshiped Yahweh, and they appointed from among their own groups many people to be priests at the shrines on the tops of the hills, in order that those priests could offer sacrifices for them there.
33 And they feared the Lord, and served their gods according to the manner of the nations, whence [their lords] brought them.
So they revered Yahweh, but they also worshiped their own gods, just as the people living in the countries from which they had been taken to Samaria did.
34 Until this day they did according to their manner: they fear [the Lord], and they do according to their customs, and according to their manner, and according to the law, and according to the commandment which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whose name he made Israel.
They still keep their old customs. They really do not worship Yahweh, and they do not obey all the laws and commands that Yahweh gave to the descendants of Jacob, to whom he gave the new name Israel.
35 And the Lord made a covenant with them, and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, neither shall you worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
Yahweh had previously made an agreement with their ancestors, commanding them not to worship other gods or bow down to honor them or do other things to please them or offer sacrifices to them.
36 but only to the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with a high arm: him shall you fear, and him shall you worship; to him shall you sacrifice.
He had said to them, “You must have an awesome respect for me, Yahweh, the one who brought you out of Egypt with my very great power [DOU]. I am the one whom you must bow down to honor, and I am the one to whom you must offer sacrifices.
37 You shall observe continually the ordinances, and the judgments, and the law, and the commandments which he wrote for you to do; and you shall not fear other gods.
You must always obey the laws and commands that I [told Moses to] write for you. You must not worship other gods.
38 Neither shall you forget the covenant which he made with you: and you shall not fear other gods.
And you must not forget the agreement that I made with your ancestors. You must not revere other gods.
39 But you shall fear the Lord your God, and he shall deliver you from all your enemies.
Instead, you must revere me, Yahweh, your God. If you do that, I will rescue you from the power [MTY] of all your enemies.”
40 Neither shall you comply with their practice, which they follow.
But the people [from those foreign nations] would not heed what Yahweh said. Instead, they continued to adhere to their old customs.
41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images: yes, their sons and their son's sons do until this day even as their fathers did.
So, they worshiped Yahweh, but they also worshiped their idols. And their descendants still do the same thing.
