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Psalm 97

1  The Lord is king: let the earth rejoice; ♦︎
   let the multitude of the isles be glad.
2  Clouds and darkness are round about him; ♦︎
   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3  Fire goes before him ♦︎
   and burns up his enemies on every side.
4  His lightnings lit up the world; ♦︎
   the earth saw it and trembled.
5  The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, ♦︎
   at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6  The heavens declared his righteousness, ♦︎
   and all the peoples have seen his glory.
7  Confounded be all who worship carved images
      and delight in mere idols. ♦︎
   Bow down before him, all you gods.
8  Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced, ♦︎
   because of your judgements, O Lord.
9  For you, Lord, are most high over all the earth; ♦︎
   you are exalted far above all gods.
10  The Lord loves those who hate evil; ♦︎
   he preserves the lives of his faithful
      and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11  Light has sprung up for the righteous ♦︎
   and joy for the true of heart.
12  Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, ♦︎
   and give thanks to his holy name.

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

17In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned for 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 worshipped other gods ⁸and 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.^{* 9}The 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 watch-tower 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,^* worshipped 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 them ²³until 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.

Paul and Jewish Leaders in Rome

17 Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸When they had examined me, the Romans^* wanted to release me, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. ¹⁹But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to the emperor—even though I had no charge to bring against my nation. ²⁰For this reason therefore I have asked to see you and speak with you,^* since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.’ ²¹They replied, ‘We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken anything evil about you. ²²But we would like to hear from you what you think, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.’

Paul Preaches in Rome

23 After they had fixed a day to meet him, they came to him at his lodgings in great numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. ²⁴Some were convinced by what he had said, while others refused to believe. ²⁵So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: ‘The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah,
²⁶ “Go to this people and say,
You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
²⁷ For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
²⁸Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.’^*

30 He lived there for two whole years at his own expense^* and welcomed all who came to him, ³¹proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.