Hoshea Reigns in Israel

1 In the twelfth year of ^pAhaz king of Judah, ^qHoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he ^rdid what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Against him came up ^sShalmaneser king of Assyria. ^tAnd Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of ^uEgypt, and offered no tribute 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. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he ^vbesieged it.

The Fall of Israel

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he ^wcarried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^xwho had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and ^ywalked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^zand in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ^afrom watchtower to fortified city. 10 ^bThey set up for themselves ^cpillars and ^dAsherim ^eon every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they ^fmade offerings on all the high places, ^gas the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12 and they served idols, ^hof which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every ⁱseer, saying, ^j“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

14 But they would not listen, but were ^kstubborn, as their fathers had been, ^lwho did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They ^mwent after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, ⁿconcerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and ^omade for themselves metal images of two calves; and they ^pmade an Asherah and ^qworshiped all the host of heaven and ^rserved Baal. 17 And they ^sburned their sons and their daughters as offerings¹ and used ^tdivination and ^uomens and ^vsold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and ^wremoved them out of his sight. None was left ^xbut the tribe of Judah only.

19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but ^ywalked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of ^zplunderers, until he had ^acast them out of his sight.

21 When he had ^btorn Israel from the house of David, ^cthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and ^dmade them commit great sin. 22 The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. ^eThey did not depart from them, 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria ^funtil this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

24 And the king of Assyria ^gbrought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So 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, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him² go and dwell there and ^hteach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

41 So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and ^lredeemer by the hand of the ^mangel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, ⁿperforming wonders and signs in Egypt and ^oat the Red Sea and in the ^pwilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ^q‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at ^rMount Sinai, and with our fathers. ^sHe received living ^toracles to give to us. 39 ^uOur fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ^v‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 ^wAnd they ^xmade a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and ^ygave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, ^aaccording to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn ^bbrought it in with Joshua when they ^cdispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of ^dDavid, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and ^easked to find ^fa dwelling place for the God of Jacob.¹ 47 But it was ^gSolomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

51 “You stiff-necked people, ⁱuncircumcised in heart and ^jears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not ^kpersecute? And they ^lkilled those who ^mannounced beforehand the coming of the ⁿRighteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by ^oangels and did not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things they were ^penraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and ^qsaw the ^rglory of God, and Jesus ^sstanding at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see ^tthe heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the ^uright hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and ^vstopped their ears and rushed together² at him. 58 Then they cast him ^wout of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, ^xreceive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ^y“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell ^zasleep.

Saul Ravages the Church

1 And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great ^apersecution against the church in ^bJerusalem, and they were all ^cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ^dravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.