The Daily Audio Bible

Hoshea rules Israel

17 Hoshea, Elah’s son, became king in Samaria in the twelfth year of Judah’s king Ahaz. He ruled over Israel for nine years. ² He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes, but he wasn’t as bad as the Israelite kings who preceded him. ³ Assyria’s King Shalmaneser marched against Hoshea, and Hoshea became Shalmaneser’s servant, paying him tribute. ⁴ But the Assyrian king discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, because Hoshea sent messengers to Egypt’s King So. Hoshea stopped paying tribute to the Assyrian king as he had in previous years, so the Assyrian king arrested him and put him in prison. ⁵ Then the Assyrian king invaded the whole country. He marched against Samaria and attacked it for three years. ⁶ In Hoshea’s ninth year, the Assyrian king captured Samaria. He sent Israel into exile to Assyria, resettling them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

The northern kingdom falls

⁷ All this happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt, out from under the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. They worshipped other gods. ⁸ They followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had removed before the Israelites, as well as the practices that the Israelite kings had done.^{[a] 9} The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that weren’t right. They built shrines in all their towns, from watchtowers to fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up sacred pillars and sacred poles^[b] on every high hill and beneath every green tree. ¹¹ At every shrine they burned incense, just as the nations did that the Lord sent into exile before them. They did evil things that made the Lord angry. ¹² They worshipped images about which the Lord had said, Don’t do such things! ¹³ The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and seers, telling them, Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commandments and my regulations in agreement with the entire Instruction that I commanded your ancestors and sent through my servants the prophets.

¹⁴ But they wouldn’t listen. They were stubborn like their ancestors who didn’t trust the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his regulations and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, along with the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless images so that they too became worthless. And they imitated the neighboring nations that the Lord had forbidden them to imitate. ¹⁶ They deserted all the commandments of the Lord their God. They made themselves two metal idols cast in the shape of calves and made a sacred pole.^[c] They bowed down to all the heavenly bodies. They served Baal. ¹⁷ They burned their sons and daughters alive. They practiced divination and sought omens. They gave themselves over to doing what was evil in the Lord’s eyes and made him angry.

¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry at Israel. He removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was spared. ¹⁹ But Judah didn’t keep the commands of the Lord their God either. They followed the practices of Israel. ²⁰ So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants. He punished them, and he handed them over to enemies who plundered them until he finally threw them out of his sight.

²¹ When Israel broke away^[d] from David’s dynasty, they made Nebat’s son Jeroboam the king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord. He caused them to commit great sin. ²² And the Israelites continued walking in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They didn’t deviate from them, ²³ and the Lord finally removed Israel from his presence. That was exactly what he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from its land to Assyria. And that’s still how it is today.

New settlers in Samaria

²⁴ The Assyrian king brought people from Babylon, Cuth, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, resettling them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. These people took control of Samaria and settled in its cities. ²⁵ But when they began to live there, they didn’t worship the Lord, so the Lord sent lions against them, and the lions began to kill them. ²⁶ Assyria’s king was told about this: “The nations you sent into exile and resettled in the cities of Samaria don’t know the religious practices of the local god. He’s sent lions against them, and the lions are killing them because none of them know the religious practices of the local god.”

²⁷ So Assyria’s king commanded, “Return one of the priests that you exiled from there. He^[e] should go back and live there. He should teach them the religious practices of the local god.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria went back. He lived in Bethel and taught the people how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ But each nationality still made its own gods. They set them up in the houses that the people of Samaria had made at the shrines. Each nationality did this in whichever cities they lived. ³⁰ The Babylonian people made the god Succoth-benoth, the Cuthean people made Nergal, and the people from Hamath made Ashima. ³¹ The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites burned their children alive as a sacrifice to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the Sepharvite gods. ³² They also worshipped the Lord, but they appointed priests for the shrines from their whole population. These priests worked in the houses at the shrines. ³³ So they worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods according to the religious practices of the nations from which they had been exiled.

³⁴ They are still following their former religious practices to this very day. They don’t really worship the Lord. Nor do they follow the regulations, the case laws, the Instruction, or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. ³⁵ The Lord had made a covenant with them, commanding them, Don’t worship other gods. Don’t bow down to them or serve them. Don’t sacrifice to them. ³⁶ Instead, worship only the Lord. He’s the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great strength and an outstretched arm. Bow down to him! Sacrifice to him! ³⁷ You must carefully keep the regulations and case laws, the Instruction, and the commandment that he wrote for you. Don’t worship other gods. ³⁸ Don’t forget the covenant that I made with you. Don’t worship other gods. ³⁹ Instead, worship only the Lord your God. He will rescue you from your enemies’ power.

⁴⁰ But they wouldn’t listen. Instead, they continued doing their former religious practices. ⁴¹ So these nations worship the Lord, but they also serve their idols. The children and the grandchildren are doing the very same thing their parents did. And that’s how things still are today.

Hezekiah rules Judah

18 Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son, became king of Judah in the third year of Israel’s King Hoshea, Elah’s son. ² He was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi;^[f] she was Zechariah’s daughter. ³ Hezekiah did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He removed the shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the sacred pole.^[g] He crushed the bronze snake that Moses made, because up to that point the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (The snake was named Nehushtan.)

⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, Israel’s God. There was no one like him among all of Judah’s kings—not before him and not after him. ⁶ He clung to the Lord and never deviated from him. He kept the commandments that the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord was with Hezekiah; he succeeded at everything he tried. He rebelled against Assyria’s king and wouldn’t serve him. ⁸ He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories, from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ Assyria’s King Shalmaneser marched against Samaria and attacked it in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Israel’s King Hoshea, Elah’s son. ¹⁰ After three years the Assyrians captured the city. Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was Hoshea’s ninth year. ¹¹ Assyria’s king sent Israel into exile to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² All this happened because they wouldn’t listen to the Lord their God. They broke his covenant—all that the Lord’s servant Moses had commanded them. They didn’t listen, and they didn’t do it.

Paul visits Macedonia and Greece

20 When the riot was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, said good-bye, and left for the province of Macedonia. ² He traveled through that region with a message of encouragement. When he came to Greece, ³ he stayed for three months. Because the Jews hatched a plot against Paul as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided instead to return through Macedonia. ⁴ He was accompanied by Sopater, Pyrrhus’ son from Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ They went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. ⁶ We sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread and met them five days later in Troas, where we stayed for a week.

Meeting with believers in Troas

⁷ On the first day of the week, as we gathered together for a meal, Paul was holding a discussion with them. Since he was leaving the next day, he continued talking until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we had gathered. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. He was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third floor and died. ¹⁰ Paul went down, fell on him and embraced him, then said, “Don’t be alarmed. He’s alive!” ¹¹ Then Paul went back upstairs and ate. He talked for a long time—right up until daybreak—then he left. ¹² They took the young man away alive, and they were greatly comforted.

Farewell to the Ephesian leaders

¹³ We went on to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we intended to take Paul on board. Paul had arranged this, since he intended to make his way there by land. ¹⁴ When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵ The next day we sailed from there and arrived opposite Chios. On the day after, we sailed to Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he wouldn’t need to spend too much time in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by Pentecost Day.

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus calling for the church’s elders to meet him. ¹⁸ When they arrived, he said to them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time I was with you, beginning with the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ¹⁹ I served the Lord with great humility and with tears in the midst of trials that came upon me because of the Jews’ schemes. ²⁰ You know I held back nothing that would be helpful so that I could proclaim to you and teach you both publicly and privately in your homes. ²¹ You know I have testified to both Jews and Greeks that they must change their hearts and lives as they turn to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus. ²² Now, compelled by the Spirit, I’m going to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. ²³ What I do know is that the Holy Spirit testifies to me from city to city that prisons and troubles await me. ²⁴ But nothing, not even my life, is more important than my completing my mission. This is nothing other than the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus: to testify about the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵ “I know that none of you will see me again—you among whom I traveled and proclaimed the kingdom. ²⁶ Therefore, today I testify to you that I’m not responsible for anyone’s fate. ²⁷ I haven’t avoided proclaiming the entire plan of God to you. ²⁸ Watch yourselves and the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as supervisors, to shepherd God’s church, which he obtained with the death of his own Son.^{[a] 29} I know that, after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and won’t spare the flock. ³⁰ Some of your own people will distort the word in order to lure followers after them. ³¹ Stay alert! Remember that for three years I constantly and tearfully warned each one of you. I never stopped warning you! ³² Now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all whom God has made holy. ³³ I haven’t craved anyone’s silver, gold, or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that I have provided for my own needs and for those of my companions with my own hands. ³⁵ In everything I have shown you that, by working hard, we must help the weak. In this way we remember the Lord Jesus’ words: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ After he said these things, he knelt down with all of them to pray. ³⁷ They cried uncontrollably as everyone embraced and kissed Paul. ³⁸ They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Psalm 148