2 Kings 17
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to
reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, yet not as the kings
of Israel that were before him.
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his
servant, and brought him tribute.
4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers
to So king of Egypt, 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 came up throughout all the land, and went up to
Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried
Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river
of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their
God, who 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 walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before
the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9 And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against
Jehovah their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the
tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
10 and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under
every green tree;
11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom
Jehovah carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke
Jehovah to anger;
12 and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do
this thing.
13 Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and
every seer, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my
statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I
sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like to the
neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God.
15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their
fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed
vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were round about
them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like
them.
16 And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them
molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host
of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and
used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil
in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his
sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of Jehovah their God, but walked in the
statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and
delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his
sight.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of
Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin
a great sin.
22 And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did;
they departed not from them;
23 until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spake by all his
servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to
Assyria unto this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from
Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the
cities thereof.
25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not
Jehovah: therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou
hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the law of the
god of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay
them, because they know not the law of the god of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests
whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach
them the law of the god of the land.
28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt
in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah.
29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of
the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities
wherein they dwelt.
30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal,
and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their
children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared Jehovah, and made unto them from among themselves priests of
the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the
nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34 Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither
do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or
after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he
named Israel;
35 with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not
fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to
them:
36 but Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and
with an outstretched arm, him shall ye fear, and unto him shall ye bow
yourselves, and to him shall ye sacrifice:
37 and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which
he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear
other gods:
38 and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall
ye fear other gods:
39 but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand
of all your enemies.
40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
41 So these nations feared Jehovah, and served their graven images; their
children likewise, and their children's children, as did their fathers, so do
they unto this day.