2 Kings 17

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like the kings of Israel who had been before him. Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy by Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had stopped bringing tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year after year. So the king of Assyria arrested him and bound him in prison. The king of Assyria invaded the whole land, came up against Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel into exile to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. This happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other gods and followed the customs of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel, and the customs the kings of Israel had established. The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God. They built high places for themselves in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned incense at all the high places, like the nations the LORD had driven out before them. They did evil things, provoking the LORD to anger. They served idols, though the LORD had told them, “You must not do this.” The LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen. They stiffened their necks like their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God. They rejected his statutes, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after what was worthless and became worthless. They followed the nations around them, whom the LORD had commanded them not to imitate. They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made cast-metal images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal. They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and sought omens, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained. Yet Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but followed the customs Israel had established. The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of plunderers until he cast them out of his presence. For he had torn Israel away from the house of David, and they had made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin. The people of Israel continued in all the sins Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them, until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, as he had spoken through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried into exile from its own land to Assyria, where they remain to this day. The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. When they first settled there, they did not fear the LORD. So the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. The king of Assyria was told, “The nations you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land. He has sent lions among them, and they are killing them because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Take back there one of the priests you exiled from there. Let them go and settle there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to fear the LORD. But each nation made its own gods and put them in the shrines of the high places the Samaritans had built, each nation in the cities where it lived. The people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, and the people of Hamath made Ashima. The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who officiated for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the LORD, but served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been deported. To this day they continue their former customs. They do not fear the LORD, nor do they act according to their statutes and ordinances, or the law and commandment the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. The LORD had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm—him you shall fear, to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. You must always be careful to carry out the statutes, ordinances, law, and commandment he wrote for you. You shall not fear other gods. You shall not forget the covenant I made with you, and you shall not fear other gods. But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” But they would not listen and continued to practice their former customs. So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children and their children’s children continue to do as their ancestors did, to this day.

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