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One-sentence summary: Israel is carried away captive by Assyria, just as the Lord spoke through the prophets.
Ahaz becomes king at 20 and reigns 16 years in Jerusalem but does not do right. He makes images for the Baals and burns incense and even his children, just like the abominations of the nations. So the Lord delivers him to the king of Assyria, and they lead the people away captive. He is also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel with a great slaughter because Pekah kills 120,000 valiant men in Judah in one day- since they had forsaken God. Israel carries away captive 200,000 women, sons, and daughters, along with the spoil to Samaria. A prophet named Oded is there, and he goes before the army that comes, and he says that the Lord delivered Judah to them because He was angry with them, but that they have killed them "with a rage that reaches up to heaven." And now, they are trying to make them slaves. He asks if they are now not also guilty before Lord, and he tells them to return the captives, because God's wrath is on them. Some of the heads of Ephraim stand up against those coming from war and tell them not to bring the captives there. They say they have already offended the Lord and sinned greatly, and that it will only add to it. So they leave the captives and spoil and clothe the naked and give them food and drink and anoint them. They let the feeble ride on donkeys, and they bring them to their brethren at Jericho and return to Samaria. King Ahaz sends to the kings of Assyria to help him, because the Edomites have come and attacked Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines also have attacked and taken cities of Judah and dwelt there, because the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, because he "encouraged moral decline in Judah in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord." One of the kings of Assyria does not assist him. Ahaz had taken treasure from the house of the Lord and the king and leaders and gave it to the king, but he still does not help him. In the time of his distress, Ahaz becomes increasingly unfaithful to the Lord. He sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated them. He reasons that it makes sense because the gods of Syria helped them, but "they were the ruin of him and of all Israel." He cuts in pieces the house of God and shuts the doors and makes altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In all the cities of Judah, he makes high places to burn incense to other gods and provoke God to anger. He dies and is buried in Jerusalem, but not in the tombs of the kings. Hezekiah his son reigns in his place.
Ahaz becomes king at 20 and reigns 16 years in Jerusalem and does evil, even sacrificing his own son. Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel besiege him in Jerusalem to make war but cannot overcome him. Ahaz sends messengers to the king of Assyria asking him to save him from the king of Syria and of Israel. He takes the silver and gold from the Lord's and king's house to him, so he goes up against Damascus and captures the people and kills Rezin. Ahaz goes to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria and sees an altar, and he sends the priest the design and pattern, and the priest builds one like it before Ahaz comes back from Damascus. When he comes back, he makes offerings- grain and drink and peace offerings. He brings the bronze altar of the Lord and puts it on the north side of the new altar and commands the priest to burn all the offerings and sacrifices of the people of the land. He cuts off the carts and levers and the sea from the bronze oxen and the Sabbath pavilion which was built in the temple, and the king's outer entrance, because of the king of Assyria. He dies and is buried in the city of David, and Hezekiah reigns in his place.
Hoshea becomes king of Israel in Samaria. He reigns 9 years and does evil, but not like the kings of Israel before him. The king of Assyria comes against him, and Hoshea pays him tribute money. And the king of Assyria uncovers a conspiracy against himself by Hoshea, who sent messengers to the king of Egypt and brought no tribute to the king as he had done every year, so the king has him put in prison. The king of Assyria goes throughout the land and besieges Samaria for three years. He carries Israel away to Assyria. This is because Israel sinned against the Lord. They feared other gods and walked in the "statutes of the nations." They also secretly did against the Lord things that were not right and built high places and wooden images on hills and under trees and did just like the nations. They do wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, because they serve idols that He told them not to serve. He says He testified against them by the prophets and seers, telling them to turn from their evil ways and keep His commands He sent through Moses and the prophets, but they would not listen. They "stiffened their necks" like their fathers and rejected His covenant. They worshipped the host of heaven and served Baal, sacrificed their sons and daughters, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil, so He removed them from His sight, and there was none left but the tribe of Judah. And yet Judah did not even keep His ways but walked in the ways of Israel, so the Lord rejected the descendants of Israel and delivered them into the hands of plunderers. They made Jeroboam king, who drove Israel from following the Lord. They followed him in his sin until the Lord removed them from His sight as He had said He would do through the prophets. They were carried away into Assyria. Then, the king of Assyria brings people from Babylon and other places, and they dwell in Samaria instead of Israel. They do not fear the Lord, so He sends lions among them which kill some of them. So the people speak to the king of Assyria, saying that the nations sent there do not know the ways of the god of the land, so they must have sent the lions. The king commands a priest be sent to teach them. Then, one comes to dwell in Bethel and teaches them to fear the Lord. However, "every nation continued to make gods of their own." They "feared the Lord, yet served their own gods according to the rituals of the nations by which they were carried away."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
God wants whole-hearted obedience.
Listen to God's prophets, and you will prosper.