Old Testament · 2 Kings

2 Kings 17

Hoshea the Last King of Israel

1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years. 2And he did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, only not like the kings of Israel who were before him.

3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became to him a servant, and rendered to him tribute. 4And the king of Assyria found in Hoshea conspiracy, that he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought up no tribute to the king of Assyria as year by year; and the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in a house of imprisonment.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

5And the king of Assyria went up through all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and exiled Israel to Assyria, and settled them in Halah, and in Habor, the river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes.

7And it came to pass, because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and they feared other gods, 8and walked in the statutes^a of the nations whom the LORD had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they made.

9And the sons of Israel did in secret things that were not so against the LORD their God, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of watchmen to the fortified city. 10And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim, upon every high hill and under every green tree. 11And they offered incense there in all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had exiled from before them; and they did evil things to provoke the LORD. 12And they served^b the idols of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

13And the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of every prophet, every seer, saying, "Turn back from your evil ways, and keep my commandments^c, my statutes, according to all the Torah that I commanded^d your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets."

14And they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15And they rejected his statutes^e and his covenant^f that he cut with their fathers, and his testimonies^g that he testified against them; and they went after the vapor and became vain, and after the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.

16And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17And they passed their sons and their daughters through the fire, and practiced divination and used enchantments, and sold themselves to do the evil in the eyes of the LORD, to provoke him.

18And the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from upon his face; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone. 19Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he cast them away from his face.

21For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from after the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. 22And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, 23until the LORD removed Israel from upon his face, as he spoke by the hand of all his servants the prophets. And Israel was exiled from upon its ground^h to Assyria, to this day.

Samaria Resettled

24And the king of Assyria brought from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities.

25And it came to pass, at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD; and the LORD sent among them the lions, and they were killing among them. 26And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying: "The nations that you exiled and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customⁱ of the God of the land; therefore he has sent among them the lions, and behold they are putting them to death, because they do not know the custom of the God of the land."

27And the king of Assyria commanded, saying: "Cause to go there one of the priests whom you exiled from there, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the custom of the God of the land."

28And one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and was teaching them how they should fear the LORD.

29And they were making, nation by nation, its gods, and put them in the house of the high places which the Samaritans had made, nation by nation, in their cities in which they were dwelling. 30And the men^j of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites were burning their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32And they feared the LORD, and made for themselves from among their whole number priests of high places, who were making offerings for them in the house of the high places. 33The LORD they were fearing, and their gods they were serving, according to the custom of the nations from which they had been exiled.

34To this day they are doing according to the former customs^k: they do not fear the LORD, and they do not do according to their statutes and according to their custom, and according to the Torah and according to the commandment^l that the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whose name he made Israel.

35And the LORD cut with them a covenant, and commanded them, saying: "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. 36But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37And the statutes and the judgments and the Torah and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall keep to do all the days; and you shall not fear other gods. 38And the covenant that I cut with you, you shall not forget; and you shall not fear other gods. 39But the LORD your God you shall fear; and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."

40And they did not listen, but according to their former custom they were doing. 41And these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images; also their sons and the sons of their sons, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.