2Kgs 17
1
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in
Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.
2
And he did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, yet not as the kings of Israel
that were before him.
3
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; 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 children of Israel had sinned against YHWH 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 YHWH cast out from before the children
of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9
And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against YHWH their
God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen
to the fortified city;
10
and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green
tree;
11
and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom YHWH
carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke YHWH to anger;
12
and they served idols, whereof YHWH had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
13
Yet YHWH testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying,
Turn you 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 hardened their neck, like to the neck of
their fathers, who believed not in YHWH 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 YHWH
had charged them that they should not do like them.
16
And they forsook all the commandments of YHWH their God, and made 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 YHWH, to provoke him to anger.
18
Therefore YHWH was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there
was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19
Also Judah kept not the commandments of YHWH their God, but walked in the statutes
of Israel which they made.
20
And YHWH 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 rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat
king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following YHWH, and made them sin a great sin.
22
And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed
not from them;
23
until YHWH 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 children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities.
25
And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not YHWH:
therefore YHWH sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26
Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you 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 slay them, because they
know not the law of the god of the land.
27
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom you
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 Beth-el,
and taught them how they should fear YHWH.
29
Nevertheless 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 children in
the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32
So they feared YHWH, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places,
who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33
They feared YHWH, 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 fear not YHWH, neither do they after
their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment
which YHWH commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
35
with whom YHWH had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other
gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
36
but YHWH, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an
outstretched arm, him shall you fear, and to him shall you bow yourselves, and to
him shall you sacrifice:
37
and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote
for you, you shall observe to do for evermore; and you shall not fear other gods:
38
and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget; neither shall you
fear other gods:
39
but YHWH your God shall you fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your
enemies.
40
Nevertheless they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
41
So these nations feared YHWH, and served their graven images; their children likewise,
and their children`s children, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.