2 Kings 17
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for nine years.
2 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like the kings of Israel who had come before him.
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him. Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.
4 But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea: he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had stopped paying tribute to the king of Assyria, as he did year after year. So the king of Assyria seized him and bound him in a prison house.
5 The king of Assyria marched through the whole land, came up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the towns of the Medes.
7 This happened because the people of Israel sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, out of the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods.
8 They followed the customs of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel, and the customs introduced by the kings of Israel.
9 The people of Israel secretly did things that were wrong against the LORD their God. They built shrines for themselves in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and beneath every leafy tree.
11 There they burned incense at all the shrines, as the nations had done whom the LORD had deported from before them. They did evil things, provoking the LORD to anger.
12 They served idols, though the LORD had told them, “You must not do this.”
13 The LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn back from your evil ways and keep my commandments and decrees, in keeping with all the Law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen. They stiffened their necks, like their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God.
15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They pursued empty things and became empty themselves, following the nations around them, though the LORD had commanded them not to act as those nations did.
16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves a cast image: two calves. They made an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and omens, and gave themselves over to doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
18 The LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left.
19 Judah, too, did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God. They followed the customs Israel had introduced.
20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to raiders, until he cast them out of his presence.
21 For the LORD had torn Israel away from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam turned Israel away from following the LORD and led them into great sin.
22 The people of Israel continued in all the sins Jeroboam had committed; they did not turn away from them.
23 This continued until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, as he had spoken through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.
25 When they first settled there, they did not fear the LORD. So the LORD sent lions among them, and the lions killed some of them.
26 They said to the king of Assyria, “The nations you deported and settled in the towns of Samaria do not know the customs of the god of the land. So he has sent lions among them, and the lions are killing them because they do not know the customs of the god of the land.”
27 The king of Assyria ordered, “Send back one of the priests you deported from there. Let him go and live there, and teach them the customs of the god of the land.”
28 So one of the priests who had been deported from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he taught them how they should fear the LORD.
29 But each nation made its own gods and placed them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had built, each nation in the towns where it lived.
30 The people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth; the people of Cuth made Nergal; and the people of Hamath made Ashima.
31 The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the people of Sepharvaim burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 They feared the LORD, but they also appointed from among themselves priests for the shrines on the high places, who served them in the shrine houses.
33 They feared the LORD and served their own gods, following the customs of the nations from which they had been deported.
34 To this day they follow their former customs. They do not fear the LORD or act according to his decrees and ordinances, or according to the Law and commandment that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
35 The LORD had made a covenant with them and commanded them: “Do not fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.
36 Instead, fear the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. Bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him.
37 Keep the decrees, ordinances, Law, and commandment he wrote for you, and carry them out every day. Do not fear other gods.
38 Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not fear other gods.
39 Instead, fear the LORD your God, and he will rescue you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40 But they would not listen. They continued to follow their former customs.
41 So those nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children and their children's children have continued to do as their ancestors did, to this day.
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