2Ki 17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of
Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
2Ki 17:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the
kings of Israel that were before him.
2Ki 17:3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his
servant, and gave him presents.
2Ki 17:4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent
messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present 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.
2Ki 17:5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up
to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and
carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the
river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki 17:7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord
their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
2Ki 17:8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from
before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
2Ki 17:9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not
right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their
cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
2Ki 17:10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under
every green tree:
2Ki 17:11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the
heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to
provoke the Lord to anger:
2Ki 17:12 For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall
not do this thing.
2Ki 17:13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the
prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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.
2Ki 17:14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to
the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.
2Ki 17:15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with
their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they
followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round
about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do
like them.
2Ki 17:16 And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made
them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the
host of heaven, and served Baal.
2Ki 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the
fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in
the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
2Ki 17:18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of
his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2Ki 17:19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked
in the statutes of Israel which they made.
2Ki 17:20 And the Lord 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.
2Ki 17:21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the
son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made
them sin a great sin.
2Ki 17:22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he
did; they departed not from them;
2Ki 17:23 Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all
his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to
Assyria unto this day.
2Ki 17:24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and
from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of
Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt
in the cities thereof.
2Ki 17:25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they
feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some
of them.
2Ki 17:26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which
thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of
the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they
slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the
priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let
him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came
and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
2Ki 17:29 Howbeit 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.
2Ki 17:30 And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made
Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
2Ki 17:31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their
children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki 17:32 So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of
them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the
high places.
2Ki 17:33 They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of
the nations whom they carried away from thence.
2Ki 17:34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the
Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after
the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he
named Israel;
2Ki 17:35 With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye
shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor
sacrifice to them:
2Ki 17:36 But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great
power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and
to him shall ye do sacrifice.
2Ki 17:37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the
commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye
shall not fear other gods.
2Ki 17:38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget;
neither shall ye fear other gods.
2Ki 17:39 But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of
the hand of all your enemies.
2Ki 17:40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
2Ki 17:41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both
their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they
unto this day.