2 Kings 17:1-13 ▼

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

2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, only not as the kings of Israel who preceded him.

3 Shalmaneser the king of Assyria marched against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.

4 But the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had then brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria arrested him and confined him in prison.

5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.

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

7 Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods.

8 They also followed the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.

9 And the sons of Israel did things secretly against the LORD their God which were not right. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.

10 And they set up for themselves memorial stones and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did that the LORD had taken into exile before them; and they did evil things, provoking the LORD.

12 They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn back from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes in accordance with all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.”