2 Kings 17:1-13 ▼

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah has reigned over Israel in Samaria, nine years,

2 and he does evil in the eyes of YHWH, only, not as the kings of Israel who were before him;

3 Shalmaneser king of Asshur came up against him, and Hoshea is a servant to him, and renders a present to him.

4 And the king of Asshur finds in Hoshea a conspiracy, in that he has sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and has not caused a present to go up to the king of Asshur, as year by year, and the king of Asshur restrains him, and binds him in a house of restraint.

5 And the king of Asshur goes up into all the land, and he goes up to Samaria, and lays siege against it [for] three years;

6 in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Asshur has captured Samaria, and removes Israel to Asshur, and causes them to dwell in Halah, and in Habor, [by] the river Gozan, and [in] the cities of the Medes.

7 And it comes to pass, because the sons of Israel have sinned against their God YHWH—who brings them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt—and fear other gods,

8 and walk in the statutes of the nations that YHWH dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they made;

9 and the sons of Israel covertly do things that [are] not right against their God YHWH, and build high places for themselves in all their cities, from a tower of the watchers to the fortified city,

10 and set up standing-pillars and Asherim for themselves on every high height, and under every green tree,

11 and make incense there in all high places, like the nations that YHWH removed from their presence, and do evil things to provoke YHWH,

12 and serve the idols, of which YHWH said to them, “You do not do this thing.”

13 And YHWH testifies against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My commands, My statutes, according to all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets”;