Meditate

17. Israel Exiled

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

17

In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned nine years.²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him.³King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute.⁴But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria confined him and imprisoned him.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it.⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods⁸and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.⁹The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city;¹⁰they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree;¹¹there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger;¹²they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”¹³Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”¹⁴They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.¹⁵They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their ancestors, and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.¹⁶They rejected all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.¹⁷They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire; they used divination and augury; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.¹⁸Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.²⁰The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel; he punished them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had banished them from his presence.

²¹ When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin.²²The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them²³until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had foretold through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel; they took possession of Samaria, and settled in its cities.²⁵When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.²⁶So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them; they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.”²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there; let him go and live there, and teach them the law of the god of the land.”²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel; he taught them how they should worship the Lord.

²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived;³⁰the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima;³¹the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.³²They also worshiped the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.³³So they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.³⁴To this day they continue to practice their former customs.

They do not worship the Lord and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.³⁵The Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not worship other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,³⁶but you shall worship the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.³⁷The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to observe. You shall not worship other gods;³⁸you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not worship other gods,³⁹but you shall worship the Lord your God; he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”⁴⁰They would not listen, however, but they continued to practice their former custom.

⁴¹ So these nations worshiped the Lord, but also served their carved images; to this day their children and their children’s children continue to do as their ancestors did.

3. Warning Against Idleness

Request for Prayer

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Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you,²and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith.³But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.⁴And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command.⁵May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Warning against Idleness

⁶ Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us.⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you,⁸and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.⁹This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate.¹⁰For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.¹¹For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.¹²Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.¹³Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

¹⁴ Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed.¹⁵Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.

Final Greetings and Benediction

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.

¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.¹⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

133. Psalm 133

Psalm 133

The Blessedness of Unity

A Song of Ascents.

1

How very good and pleasant it is

when kindred live together in unity!

2

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down upon the beard,

on the beard of Aaron,

running down over the collar of his robes.

3

It is like the dew of Hermon,

which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there the Lord ordained his blessing,

life forevermore.