2 Kings 17

2And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

3Against him Salmanassar king of the Assyrians came up. Now Osea was his vassal and had withheld from him the customary homage gift,

4and the king of the Assyrians had found infidelity in Osea; for he had sent messengers to Segor king of Egypt, and had not carried to the king of the Assyrians the customary homage gift that year. Therefore the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in prison.

5When the king of Assyria had come up through all the land he went to Samaria and besieged it three years.

6In the ninth year of Osea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and transplanted Israel among the Assyrians, and caused them to dwell on the Alae and the Abor, rivers of Gosan, and on the mountains of the Medes.

8and walked in the ordinances of the nations which the Lord had removed from before the Israelites.

9Indeed with regard to the acts which the kings of Israel did and which the Israelites adopted; were they not in direct opposition to the Lord their God?

10They built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watch tower to the fortified city; and erected for themselves pillars and bowers on every high hill, and under every shady tree;

11and there burned incense in all the high places, as the nations did which the Lord had removed from before them. Nay, they unhallowed and marked themselves to provoke the Lord to wrath;

12and served the idols, concerning which the Lord said to them, You shall not do such a thing for the Lord.

14yet they hearkened not; but hardened their neck more than their fathers had done—

15His testimonies which He gave them in charge, they did not keep; but walked after vanities and became vain, and followed the nations around them in the very things which the Lord commanded them not to do.

16They forsook the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves a molten image—even two calves. And having made bowers, they worshipped the whole host of heaven, and served Baal.

17They made their sons and their daughters to pass through fire, and used divination and practised augury. Indeed they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to wrath.

18And though the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His presence, and there was none left but only the tribe of Juda,

19yet even then Juda did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God; but walked in the ordinances which Israel had made, and rejected the Lord.

20Therefore the Lord was angry with the whole race of Israel and shook them off, and delivered them into the hands of spoilers who ransacked them until He cast them out of His sight.

22and the Israelites proceeded on in the sin of Jeroboam which he had caused them to commit; and departed not from it,

23until the Lord removed them from His presence, as He spoke by the ministry of all His servants the prophets. Now when Israel was removed from their own land to Assyria, where they continue to this day;

24the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon and from Chutha and from Aia and from Aimath and Seppharuim, and planted them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.

25But as they did not, at the beginning of their settlement, fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them. And when they were making havoc among them,

26some spoke to the king of Assyria saying, The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the ritual of the God of that land; therefore He hath sent lions among them, and behold they are killing them, because they do not know the ritual of the God of that land.

28So they brought one of the priests whom they had transported from Samaria, and he settled at Baithel. And while he was instructing them how they should fear the Lord, they were making,

29every nation, their own gods, which they set up in the house of the high places which the Samaritans had erected—every nation in the cities where they dwelt.

30Thus the men of Babylon made Socchoth-benith; and the men of Chuth made Ergal; and the men of Aimath made Asimath;

31and the Evites made Eblazer and Tharthak; and the Seppharuims made Adramelech and Anemelech, because they of Seppharuim burned their children to these gods.

33Though they feared the Lord, yet they made for themselves priests of the high places, and sacrificed for themselves in the house of the high places. They both feared the Lord and served their own gods, according to the ritual of the nations from which they had been transplanted.

34Even to this day they have acted according to this ritual of theirs. They fear; and they do according to their own rites and their own institutions, and [also] according to the law and the command which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob to whom He gave the name Israel,

35Though the Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, You shall not fear other gods nor worship them nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,

36for these acts you must do to the Lord only, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm—Him you shall fear, and Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice—

37These statutes and these judgments and this law and the commandments which He hath written for you to do, you shall keep continually; and you shall not fear other gods—

38and this covenant which He hath made with you, you must not forget. You shall not fear other gods;

39but fear the Lord your God only, and He will deliver you from all your enemies;

40and you shall pay no regard to the rites which they practise.

41Yet these nations feared the Lord and at the same time served their graven images. And even to this day their children and their children’s children do as their fathers did.