< 2 Kings 17 >
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began 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 who were before him.
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him. 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 to 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 sons 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 sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9 And the sons of Israel did things secretly that were not right against Jehovah their God. And they built for them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
10 And they set up for them pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree,
11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as the nations did whom Jehovah carried away before them. And they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger.
12 And they served idols, of which Jehovah had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.
13 Yet Jehovah testified to Israel, and to 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 stiffened their neck, like the neck of their fathers who did not believe 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 to 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 for them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped 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 only the tribe of Judah.
19 Also Judah did not keep 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 tore 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 sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did. They did not depart from them
23 until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to 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 sons of Israel. And they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities of it.
25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they were not afraid of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there, 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 Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah.
29 However 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 sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they were afraid of Jehovah, and made for them priests of the high places from among themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They were afraid of Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34 To this day they do after the former manner. They do not fear Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the sons 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 ye shall fear, and to him ye shall bow yourselves, and to him ye shall 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 ye shall ye fear Jehovah your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
40 However they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
41 So these nations were afraid of Jehovah, and served their graven images, their sons likewise, and their son's sons, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.
