Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, May 3 Press play below to hear today's Daily text

16.1 In the 17th year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of King Jotham of Judah became king.
16.2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God as David his forefather had done.
16.3 Instead, he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and he even made his own son pass through the fire, following the detestable practices of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the Israelites.
16.4 He also kept sacrificing and making sacrificial smoke on the high places, on the hills, and under every luxuriant tree.
16.5 It was then that King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They laid siege against Ahaz but were not able to capture the city.
16.6 At that time King Rezin of Syria restored Elath to Edom, after which he drove the Jews out of Elath. And the Edomites entered Elath, and they have occupied it down to this day.
16.7 So Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying: “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”
16.8 Ahaz then took the silver and the gold that was to be found at the house of Jehovah and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent the king of Assyria a bribe.
16.9 The king of Assyria responded to his request, and he went up to Damascus and captured it and led its people into exile to Kir, and he put Rezin to death.
16.10 Then King Ahaz went to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria at Damascus. When he saw the altar that was in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Urijah the priest a plan of the altar, showing its pattern and how it was made.
16.11 Urijah the priest built an altar according to all the directions that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Urijah the priest finished building it before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.
16.12 When the king returned from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached the altar and made offerings on it.
16.13 And on that altar he continued to make his burnt offerings and his grain offerings smoke; he also poured out his drink offerings and sprinkled the blood of his communion sacrifices on it.
16.14 Then he moved the copper altar that was before Jehovah from its place in front of the house, from between his own altar and the house of Jehovah, and he put it at the north side of his own altar.
16.15 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest: “Make the morning burnt offering smoke on the great altar, also the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings of all the people. You should also sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offerings and all the blood of the other sacrifices. As for the copper altar, let me decide what to do with it.”
16.16 And Urijah the priest did everything that King Ahaz had commanded.
16.17 Furthermore, King Ahaz cut the side panels of the carriages into pieces and removed the basins from them, and he took the Sea down off the copper bulls that supported it and put it on a stone pavement.
16.18 And the covered structure for the Sabbath that had been built in the house and the king’s outer entryway he shifted away from the house of Jehovah; he did so because of the king of Assyria.
16.19 As for the rest of the history of Ahaz, what he did, is it not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?
16.20 Then Ahaz was laid to rest with his forefathers and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David; and his son Hezekiah became king in his place.

17.1 In the 12th year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria; he ruled for nine years.
17.2 He continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, only not to the extent of the kings of Israel prior to him.
17.3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and began to pay tribute to him.
17.4 However, the king of Assyria learned that Hoshea was involved in a conspiracy, for he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt and did not bring the tribute up to the king of Assyria as in former years. Therefore, the king of Assyria kept him confined and bound in prison.
17.5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, and he came to Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.
17.6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He then led the people of Israel into exile in Assyria and made them dwell in Halah and in Habor at the river Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.
17.7 This happened because the people of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the control of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods,
17.8 they followed the customs of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the Israelites, and they followed the customs that the kings of Israel had established.
17.9 The Israelites were pursuing the things that were not right according to Jehovah their God. They kept building high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.
17.10 They kept setting up for themselves sacred pillars and sacred poles on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree;
17.11 and on all the high places they would make sacrificial smoke just as the nations did that Jehovah had driven into exile from before them. They kept doing wicked things to offend Jehovah.
17.12 They continued to serve disgusting idols, about which Jehovah had told them: “You must not do this!”
17.13 Jehovah kept warning Israel and Judah through all his prophets and every visionary, saying: “Turn back from your wicked ways! Keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law that I commanded your forefathers and that I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
17.14 But they did not listen, and they remained just as stubborn as their forefathers who had not shown faith in Jehovah their God.
17.15 They continued rejecting his regulations and his covenant that he had made with their forefathers and his reminders that he had given to warn them, and they kept following worthless idols and became worthless themselves, imitating the nations all around them that Jehovah had commanded them not to imitate.
17.16 They kept leaving all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and they made metal statues of two calves and a sacred pole, and they bowed down to all the army of the heavens and served Baal.
17.17 They also made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and looked for omens, and they kept devoting themselves to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, to offend him.
17.18 So Jehovah was very angry with Israel, so that he removed them from his sight. He did not let any remain but the tribe of Judah alone.
17.19 Even Judah did not keep the commandments of Jehovah their God; they also walked in the customs that Israel followed.
17.20 Jehovah rejected all the descendants of Israel and humiliated them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them away from before him.
17.21 He ripped Israel away from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. But Jeroboam caused Israel to stray from following Jehovah, and he caused them to commit a great sin.
17.22 And the people of Israel kept walking in all the sins that Jeroboam had committed. They did not depart from them
17.23 until Jehovah removed Israel from his sight, just as he had declared through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was taken into exile from its land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.
17.24 The king of Assyria then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites; they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
17.25 When they first began dwelling there, they did not fear Jehovah. So Jehovah sent lions among them, and they killed some of the people.
17.26 It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The nations that you have taken into exile and resettled in the cities of Samaria do not know the religion of the God of the land. So he keeps sending lions among them, which are putting them to death, because none of them know the religion of the God of the land.”
17.27 At that the king of Assyria commanded: “Have one of the priests whom you took into exile from there return to live there and to teach them the religion of the God of the land.”
17.28 So one of the priests whom they had taken into exile from Samaria came back to live in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear Jehovah.
17.29 However, each different nation made their own god, which they placed in the houses of worship on the high places that the Samaritans had made; each different nation did so in their cities where they were living.
17.30 So the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
17.31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites would burn their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
17.32 Although they feared Jehovah, they appointed priests for the high places from the people in general, and these officiated for them at the houses of worship on the high places.
17.33 Thus, they feared Jehovah, but they worshipped their own gods according to the religion of the nations from which they had been deported.
17.34 To this day they follow their former religions. None of them worship Jehovah, and none follow his statutes, his judgments, the Law, and the commandment that Jehovah gave the sons of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel.
17.35 When Jehovah made a covenant with them, he commanded them: “You must not fear other gods, and you must not bow down to them or serve them or sacrifice to them.
17.36 But Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, is the One you should fear, and to him you should bow down, and to him you should sacrifice.
17.37 And the regulations, the judgments, the Law, and the commandment that he wrote for you, you should always follow carefully, and you must not fear other gods.
17.38 And you must not forget the covenant that I made with you, and you must not fear other gods.
17.39 But it is Jehovah your God whom you should fear, as he is the one who will rescue you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
17.40 But they did not obey, and they followed their former religion.
17.41 So these nations came to fear Jehovah, but they were also serving their own graven images. Both their sons and their grandsons have done just as their forefathers did, down to this day.