2 Kings 17

1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.

2He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, though not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

3Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

4But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was part of a conspiracy, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. So the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison.

5Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land. He came up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7This happened because the Israelites had sinned against Yahweh their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods.

8They followed the practices of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites, and the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.

9The Israelites secretly did things against Yahweh their God that were not right. They built high places for themselves in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.

10They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

11There they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations whom Yahweh had carried away before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked Yahweh to anger.

12They served idols, though Yahweh had told them, “You must not do this.”

13Yet Yahweh warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer: “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in keeping with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

14But they would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors, who did not trust Yahweh their God.

15They rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They followed the nations around them, though Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did.

16They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves. They made an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

17They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens, and they sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger.

18So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left but the tribe of Judah alone.

19Even Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but followed the practices that Israel had introduced.

20Yahweh rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and handed them over to plunderers, until he had thrown them out of his presence.

21When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following Yahweh and led them into a great sin.

22The Israelites walked in all the sins that Jeroboam committed and did not turn away from them,

23until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence, as he had said through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria, and they are there to this day.

24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.

25When they first settled there, they did not worship Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and the lions killed some of them.

26So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of the land requires. He has sent lions among them, and they are killing them, because the people do not know what the god of the land requires.”

27Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Send back there one of the priests you deported from there. Let him go and live there and teach them what the god of the land requires.”

28So one of the priests they had deported from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he taught them how they should worship Yahweh.

29But each nation made its own gods and set them up in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made, each nation in the towns where they were living.

30The people from Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people from Cuth made Nergal, and the people from Hamath made Ashima.

31The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32They worshiped Yahweh, but they also appointed from among all their own people priests for the high places, who officiated for them in the shrines on the high places.

33They worshiped Yahweh, but they also served their own gods, following the customs of the nations from which they had been deported.

34To this day they keep their former customs. They do not worship Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes and the ordinances, the law and the commandment, that Yahweh commanded the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

35Yahweh had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “Do not worship other gods or bow down to them or serve them or sacrifice to them.

36Only Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. Bow down to him and sacrifice to him.

37The statutes and the ordinances, the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you must always be careful to keep. Do not worship other gods.

38Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods.

39Worship only Yahweh your God, and he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

40But they would not listen, and they kept doing what they had done before.

41So these nations worshiped Yahweh but also served their carved idols. To this day their children and their grandchildren keep doing as their ancestors did.