2 Kings 17

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Ioudas, Hosee son of Ela began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.

And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, only not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

Against him Salamanasar king of the Assyrians came up, and Hosee became his servant and rendered him tribute.

And the king of the Assyrians found wrongdoing in Hosee, because he had sent messengers to Segor king of Egypt and had not brought tribute to the king of the Assyrians in that year; and the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in a prison house.

And the king of the Assyrians came up throughout all the land, and he went up against Samaria and besieged it for three years.

In the ninth year of Hosee, the king of the Assyrians captured Samaria and deported Israel to the Assyrians and settled them in Halae and in Habor, rivers of Gozan, and the mountains of the Medes.

And it happened because the sons of Israel sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt, and they feared other gods,

and they walked in the statutes of the nations which the Lord removed from before the sons of Israel, and in those which the kings of Israel made.

And whatever words the sons of Israel clothed themselves with were not right, being against the Lord their God; and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified city;

and they set up for themselves pillars and sacred groves on every high hill and under every leafy tree;

and they burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which the Lord had deported from before them, and they made associates and carved images to provoke the Lord to anger.

And they served the idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing to the Lord.

And the Lord testified against Israel and against Ioudas by the hand of all his prophets, every seer, saying, Turn back from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes and all the law which I commanded your fathers, all that I sent to them by the hand of my servants the prophets.

But they did not listen, and they hardened their back beyond the back of their fathers.

And they did not keep his testimonies, all that he testified to them, and they went after vain things and became vain, and after the nations round about them, concerning which he had commanded them not to do as they did.

They forsook the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves a cast image, two heifers, and they made sacred groves and bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal,

and they passed their sons and their daughters through fire and practiced divinations and read omens, and they sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

And the Lord was exceedingly angry with Israel and removed them from his presence, and none was left except the tribe of Ioudas alone.

And indeed Ioudas did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, and they walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made.

And they thrust away the Lord among all the seed of Israel; and he shook them and gave them into the hand of those who plundered them, until he cast them away from his presence.

For Israel was apart from over the house of Dauid, and they made Ieroboam son of Nabat king; and Ieroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to sin a great sin.

And the sons of Israel walked in every sin of Ieroboam which he did; they did not depart from it,

until the Lord removed Israel from his presence, just as the Lord had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets; and Israel was deported from off its land to the Assyrians to this day.

And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon and the one from Chountha and from Aia and from Aimath and Sepphrouain, and they were settled in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

And it happened at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the Lord, and the Lord sent lions among them, and they were killing some among them.

And they spoke to the king of the Assyrians, saying, The nations which you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the ordinance of the god of the land, and he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are putting them to death, because they do not know the ordinance of the god of the land.

And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying, Bring away from there, and let them go and dwell there, and let them enlighten them in the ordinance of the god of the land.

And they brought one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Baithel and was enlightening them how they should fear the Lord.

And each nation was making their own gods, and they put them in the house of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in their cities in which they dwelt.

And the men of Babylon made Sokchothbainith, and the men of Chouth made Nerigel, and the men of Aimath made Asimath,

and the Hivites made Eblazer and Tharthak, and the Sepphrouain burned their sons in the fire to Adramelech and Anemelech, the gods of Sepphrouain.

And they were fearing the Lord, and they installed their abominations in the houses of the high places which they had made in Samaria, each nation in the city in which they dwelt; and they were fearing the Lord and made for themselves priests of the high places and made for themselves service in the house of the high places.

They feared the Lord and served their own gods according to the ordinance of the nations from where he had deported them.

To this day they were doing according to their own ordinance; they fear, and they act according to their statutes and according to their judgment and according to the law and according to the commandment which the Lord commanded the sons of Iakob, whose name he made Israel.

And the Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not bow down to them and you shall not serve them and you shall not sacrifice to them;

but rather the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with an uplifted arm—him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice.

And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandments which he wrote for you, you shall be careful to do all the days, and you shall not fear other gods.

And the covenant which he made with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods.

But rather the Lord your God you shall fear, and he himself will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

And you shall not listen concerning their ordinance which they themselves practice.

So these nations were fearing the Lord and were serving their carved images; and indeed their sons and their sons' sons do as their fathers did, to this day.