2 Kings
17
- In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah,
Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.
- He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but
not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
- Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack
Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser's vassal and had paid him tribute.
- But the king of Assyria discovered that
Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no
longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore
Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.
- The king of Assyria invaded the entire land,
marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.
- In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of
Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled
them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
- All this took place because the Israelites
had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt
from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods
- and followed the practices of the nations
the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings
of Israel had introduced.
- The Israelites secretly did things against
the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city
they built themselves high places in all their towns.
- They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles
on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
- At every high place they burned incense,
as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did
wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger.
- They worshiped idols, though the LORD had
said, "You shall not do this."
- The LORD warned Israel and Judah through
all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands
and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers
to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets."
- But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked
as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God.
- They rejected his decrees and the covenant
he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed
worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations
around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do,"
and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.
- They forsook all the commands of the LORD
their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and
an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped
Baal.
- They sacrificed their sons and daughters
in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to
do evil in the eyes 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 was left,
- and even Judah did not keep the commands
of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.
- Therefore the LORD rejected all the people
of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until
he thrust them from his presence.
- When he tore Israel away from the house
of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel
away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin.
- The Israelites persisted in all the sins
of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them
- until the LORD removed them from his presence,
as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel
were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
- The king of Assyria brought people from
Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns
of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in
its towns.
- When they first lived there, they did not
worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the
people.
- It was reported to the king of Assyria:
"The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not
know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them,
which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires."
- Then the king of Assyria gave this order:
"Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live
there and teach the people what the god of the land requires."
- So one of the priests who had been exiled
from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD.
- Nevertheless, each national group made its
own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines
the people of Samaria had made at the high places.
- The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth,
the men from Cuthah made Nergal, and the men from Hamath made Ashima;
- the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and
the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech
and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
- They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed
all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines
at the high places.
- They worshiped the LORD, but they also served
their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they
had been brought.
- To this day they persist in their former
practices. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances,
the laws and commands that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he
named Israel.
- When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites,
he commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them,
serve them or sacrifice to them.
- But the LORD, who brought you up out of
Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship.
To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.
- You must always be careful to keep the decrees
and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other
gods.
- Do not forget the covenant I have made with
you, and do not worship other gods.
- Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is
he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
- They would not listen, however, but persisted
in their former practices.
- Even while these people were worshiping
the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren
continue to do as their fathers did.
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