Study Desk

While Ahaz was ruling Judah, the king of Edom recaptured the town of Elath from Judah and forced out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath, and they still live there. About the same time, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel marched to Jerusalem and attacked, but they could not capture it.

He told Uriah the priest: From now on, the morning and evening sacrifices as well as all gifts of grain and wine are to be offered on this altar. The sacrifices for the people and for the king must also be offered here. Sprinkle the blood from all the sacrifices on it, but leave the bronze altar for me to use for prayer and finding out what God wants me to do.

Hoshea disobeyed the Lord and sinned, but not as much as the earlier Israelite kings had done.

But later, Hoshea refused to pay the taxes and asked King So of Egypt to help him rebel. When Shalmaneser found out, he arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.

But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the Lord their God.

They ignored the Lord 's warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The Lord had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.

but they also disobeyed the Lord 's commands and acted like the Israelites.

But in towns all over Israel, the different groups of people made statues of their own gods, then they placed these idols in local Israelite shrines.

They worshiped their own gods, just as they had before they were taken away to Israel. They also worshiped the Lord , but they chose their own people to be priests at the shrines.

But the people living in Israel ignored that command and kept on following their old customs.

They did worship the Lord , but they also worshiped their own idols. Their descendants did the same thing.

Hezekiah sent this message to Sennacherib, who was in the town of Lachish: "I know I am guilty of rebellion. But I will pay you whatever you want, if you stop your attack." Sennacherib told Hezekiah to pay about eleven tons of silver and almost a ton of gold.

Does he think he can plan and win a war with nothing but words? Who is going to help him, now that he has turned against the king of Assyria?

for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards, raise your own grain, and have plenty of olive oil and honey. Believe me, you won't starve there. Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him.

But just look how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

But you are our Lord and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only God.

Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest.

"It's normal for the sun to go forward," Hezekiah answered. "But how can it go back?"

But the people of Judah disobeyed the Lord . They listened to Manasseh and did even more sinful things than the nations the Lord had wiped out.

Now I, the Lord God of Israel, will destroy both Jerusalem and Judah! People will hear about it but won't believe it.