2 Kings 17

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord — only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians came up against him, and Hoshea became his slave and paid him tribute. [a]

4 And the king of the Assyrians found wrongdoing in Hoshea: he had sent messengers to Segor king of Egypt, and he had not brought the tribute to the king of the Assyrians that year. So the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in a prison house. [b] 5 And the king of the Assyrians went up through all the land, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and he carried Israel away to the Assyrians and settled them in Halah and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan, and in the mountains of the Medes. [d]

7 And this came about because the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they feared other gods, 8 and they walked in the rules of the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the children of Israel, and in those of the kings of Israel, all of them who did such things, 9 and in whatever the children of Israel dressed up in words against the Lord their God — things that were not so. And they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified city. [e] 10 And they set up pillars for themselves, and sacred groves, on every high hill and under every leafy tree, [f] 11 and they burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away from before them. And they made partners for themselves, and they carved images, to provoke the Lord to anger. [g]

12 And they served the idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You are not to do this thing to the Lord.” 13 And the Lord bore witness against Israel and against Judah, by the hand of all his prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn back from your evil ways, and keep my commands and my rules, and all the law that I commanded your fathers, all that I sent to them by the hand of my servants the prophets.” 14 But they did not listen, and they made their backs harder than the backs of their fathers. [h] 15 And they did not keep his witnesses, all the witness he bore to them; and they walked after empty things and became empty, and after the nations around them, about whom the Lord had commanded them not to do as they did. [i]

16 They abandoned the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves a cast image — two heifers — and they made sacred groves, and they bowed down to all the army of heaven, and they served Baal. [j] 17 And they passed their sons and their daughters through the fire, and they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 18 And the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence; and no one was left but the tribe of Judah, all by itself.

19 And Judah too did not keep the commands of the Lord their God, but they walked in the rules of Israel, whatever Israel had done; 20 and they pushed the Lord away, among all the seed of Israel. And he shook them and gave them into the hand of those who plundered them, until he threw them out from his presence. [k] 21 For Israel was torn away from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel out from following the Lord and made them sin a great sin. [l] 22 And the children of Israel walked in all the sin of Jeroboam that he committed; they did not turn away from it, 23 until the Lord removed Israel from his presence, as the Lord had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets. And Israel was carried away from off its own land to the Assyrians, to this day.

24 And the king of the Assyrians brought from Babylon the people of Cuthah, and people from Avva, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. [m] 25 And at the beginning of their settling there they did not fear the Lord, and the Lord sent the lions among them, and they were killing some of them. 26 And they spoke to the king of the Assyrians and said, “The nations that you carried away and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land, and he has sent the lions among them; and look, they are putting them to death, because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.” [n] 27 And the king of the Assyrians gave a command and said, “Take some away from there, and let them go and live there, and let them teach them the custom of the god of the land.” [o] 28 And they brought one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel, and he taught them how they should fear the Lord.

29 But nation by nation they made their own gods and set them in the house of the high places that the Samaritans had made — nation by nation, in the cities where they were living. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Hivites made Eblazer and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim were burning their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. [p] 32 And they feared the Lord, and they settled their detestable things in the houses of the high places that they had made in Samaria, nation by nation in the city where they were living. And they feared the Lord, and they made themselves priests of the high places, and they made for themselves in the house of the high places. [q] 33 They feared the Lord, and they served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom he had carried them away.

34 To this day they act according to their own custom. They fear, and they act according to their rules and according to their judgment and according to the law and the command that the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whose name he made Israel. [r] 35 And the Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You are not to fear other gods, and you are not to bow down to them, and you are not to serve them, and you are not to sacrifice to them, 36 but only the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with an uplifted arm. Him you are to fear, and to him you are to bow down, and to him you are to sacrifice. 37 And the rules and the judgments and the law and the commands that he wrote for you, you are to keep and do all your days; and you are not to fear other gods. 38 And the covenant that he made with you, you are not to forget; and you are not to fear other gods. 39 But you are to fear the Lord your God, and he will rescue you from all your enemies. 40 And you are not to listen to their custom, which they follow.” [s]

41 So these nations feared the Lord, and they were slaves to their carved images — their sons too, and their sons’ sons. As their fathers did, so they do to this day. [t]