2 Kings 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.
- 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.
- 3
- Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and
Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
- 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.
- 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 into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in
Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 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,
- 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.
- 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.
- 10
- And they set them up images and groves in every high
hill, and under every green tree:
- 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:
- 12
- For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto
them, Ye shall not do this thing.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 19
- Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their
God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
- 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.
- 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.
- 22
- For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of
Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 30
- And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men
of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
- 31
- And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the
Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the
gods of Sepharvaim.
- 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.
- 33
- They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after
the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
- 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;
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 38
- And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not
forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
- 39
- But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall
deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
- 40
- Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their
former manner.
- 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.
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