Nevi'im
Melakhim Bet17
2 Kings · Chapter 17
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Yisra'el nine years.
And he did
that which was evil in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), but not as the kings of Yisra'el that were before him.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Mitsrayim, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as
he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Yisra'el away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor
by
the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
For
so it was, that the children of Yisra'el had sinned against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim, which had brought them up out of the land of Mitsrayim, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Mitsrayim, and had feared other gods,
And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) cast out from before the children of Yisra'el, and of the kings of Yisra'el, which they had made.
And the children of Yisra'el did secretly
those things that
were not right against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as
did
the heathen whom 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) to anger:
For they served idols, whereof 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
Yet 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) testified against Yisra'el, and against Judah, by all the nevi'im,
and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my mitsvot
and my statutes, according to all the torah which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the nevi'im.
Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim.
And they rejected his statutes, and his b'rit that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that
were
round about them,
concerning whom 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) had charged them, that they should not do like them.
And they left all the mitsvot of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim, and made them molten images,
even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of shamayim, and served Baal.
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), to provoke him to anger.
Therefore 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) was very angry with Yisra'el, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Also Judah kept not the mitsvot of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim, but walked in the statutes of Yisra'el which they made.
And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) rejected all the seed of Yisra'el, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
For he rent Yisra'el from the house of Dawid; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Yisra'el from following 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and made them sin a great sin.
For the children of Yisra'el walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
Until 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) removed Yisra'el out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the nevi'im. So was Yisra'el carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And the king of Assyria brought
men from Bavel, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed
them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Yisra'el: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And
so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there,
that they feared not 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH): therefore 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) sent lions among them, which slew
some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the Elohim of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the Elohim of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the kohanim whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the Elohim of the land.
Then one of the kohanim whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH).
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put
them
in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Bavel made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and made unto themselves of the lowest of them kohanim of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the torah and mitsvah which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) commanded the children of Ya'aqov, whom he named Yisra'el;
With whom 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) had made a b'rit, and charged them saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), who brought you up out of the land of Mitsrayim with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the torah, and the mitsvah, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
And the b'rit that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) your Elohim ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
So these nations feared 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
Nevi'im
Melakhim Bet18
2 Kings · Chapter 18
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisra'el,
that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name also
was
Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
And he did
that which was right in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), according to all that Dawid his father did.
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Mosheh had made: for unto those days the children of Yisra'el did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
He trusted in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim of Yisra'el; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor
any that were before him.
For he clave to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH),
and departed not from following him, but kept his mitsvot, which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) commanded Mosheh.
And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) was with him;
and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
He smote the Philistines,
even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which
was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Yisra'el,
that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
And at the end of three years they took it:
even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that
is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Yisra'el, Samaria was taken.
And the king of Assyria did carry away Yisra'el unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor
by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
Because they obeyed not the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) their Elohim, but transgressed his b'rit,
and all that Mosheh the servant of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) commanded, and would not hear
them, nor do
them.
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
And Hezekiah gave
him all the silver that was found in the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and in the treasures of the king’s house.
At that time did Hezekiah cut off
the gold from the doors of the heikhal of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and
from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Yerushalayim. And they went up and came to Yerushalayim. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field.
And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which
was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest, (but
they are but vain words,)
I have
counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed,
even upon Mitsrayim, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Mitsrayim unto all that trust on him.
But if ye say unto me, We trust in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) our Elohim:
is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Yerushalayim, Ye shall worship before this altar in Yerushalayim?
Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Mitsrayim for chariots and for horsemen?
Am I now come up without 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) against this place to destroy it? 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand
it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that
are on the wall.
But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?
hath he not
sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you.
Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), saying, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make
an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and
then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) will deliver us.
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where
are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where
are
the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
Who
are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) should deliver Yerushalayim out of mine hand?
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s mitsvah was, saying, Answer him not.
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which
was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with
their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.
Nevi'im
Melakhim Bet19
2 Kings · Chapter 19
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard
it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH).
And he sent Eliakim, which
was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the kohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha'yahu the navi the son of Amoz.
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day
is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and
there is not strength to bring forth.
It may be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) thy Elohim will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living Elohim; and will reprove the words which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) thy Elohim hath heard: wherefore lift up
thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Yesha'yahu.
And Yesha'yahu said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy Elohim in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Yerushalayim shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed;
as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which
were in Thelasar?
Where
is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and spread it before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH).
And Hezekiah prayed before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and said, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim of Yisra'el, which dwellest
between the cherubims, thou art the Elohim,
even
thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made shamayim and earth.
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), bow down thine ear, and hear: open, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living Elohim.
Of a truth, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
And have cast their gods into the fire: for they
were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
Now therefore, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) our Elohim, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou
art
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim,
even thou only.
Then Yesha'yahu the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim of Yisra'el,
That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
This
is the word that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Tsiyon hath despised thee,
and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Yerushalayim hath shaken her head at thee.
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted
thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even
against the Holy
One of Yisra'el.
By the messengers thou hast reproached the master, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof,
and
the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders,
and into the forest of his Carmel.
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
Hast thou not heard long ago
how I have done it,
and
of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities
into ruinous heaps.
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were
as the grass of the field, and
as
the green herb,
as the grass on the house tops, and
as corn blasted before it be grown up.
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
And this
shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
For out of Yerushalayim shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Tsiyon: the zeal of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)
of hosts shall do this.
Therefore thus saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH).
For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant Dawid’s sake.
And it came to pass that night, that the mal'akh of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they
were all dead corpses.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his elohim, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.