1In the twelfth year of the reign of Ahaz over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria nine years.[ † ]2 Kings 15:30 2And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
3Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.[ † ]2 Kings 18:9-122 Kings 24:1 4But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
5Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.[ † ]2 Kings 18:9Hosea 13:16
6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.[ † ]2 Kings 18:10-11Isaiah 7:7-9Hosea 1:4Hosea 13:16Amos 4:2Leviticus 26:32-33Deuteronomy 28:36-64Deuteronomy 29:27-281 Chronicles 5:26
7All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods[ † ]Joshua 23:16Judges 6:10 8and walked in the customs of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel.[ † ]Leviticus 18:3Deuteronomy 18:92 Kings 16:3
9The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities.[ † ]2 Kings 18:8 10They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.[ † ]1 Kings 14:23Isaiah 57:5Exodus 34:12-14Deuteronomy 16:21Micah 5:14Deuteronomy 12:22 Kings 16:4 11They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the Lord had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger. 12They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You shall not do this thing.”[ † ]Exodus 20:3-5Leviticus 26:1Deuteronomy 5:7-8Deuteronomy 4:19
13Yet through all His prophets and seers, the Lord warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”[ † ]Nehemiah 9:29-301 Samuel 9:9Jeremiah 18:11Jeremiah 25:5Jeremiah 35:15Ezekiel 18:31
14But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the Lord their God.[ † ]Exodus 32:9Exodus 33:3Deuteronomy 31:27Proverbs 29:1Acts 7:51Deuteronomy 9:23Psalms 78:22 15They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.[ † ]Jeremiah 44:3Exodus 24:6-8Deuteronomy 29:25Deuteronomy 32:211 Kings 16:311 Corinthians 8:42 Chronicles 13:7Jeremiah 2:5Romans 1:21-23Deuteronomy 12:30-31
16They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.[ † ]Exodus 32:81 Kings 12:281 Kings 14:15Deuteronomy 4:191 Kings 16:311 Kings 22:53 17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.[ † ]Leviticus 18:212 Kings 16:3Ezekiel 23:37Leviticus 19:26Deuteronomy 18:10-121 Kings 21:20
18So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,[ † ]1 Kings 11:13-32 19and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced.[ † ]Jeremiah 3:8 20So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.[ † ]Judges 2:142 Kings 13:32 Kings 15:292 Kings 24:20
21When the Lord had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.[ † ]1 Kings 11:11-311 Kings 12:20-28 22The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them. 23Finally, the Lord removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.[ † ]1 Kings 14:16Isaiah 8:42 Kings 17:6
24Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.[ † ]Ezra 4:2-102 Kings 18:34
25Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the Lord, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The peoples that you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land. Because of this, He has sent lions among them, which are indeed killing them off.”
27Then the king of Assyria commanded: “Send back one of the priests you carried off from Samaria, and have him go back to live there and teach the requirements of the God of the land.”
28Thus one of the priests they had carried away came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should worship the Lord.
29Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places.[ † ]1 Kings 12:311 Kings 13:32 30The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,[ † ]2 Kings 17:24 31the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.[ † ]Ezra 4:9Leviticus 18:21Deuteronomy 12:31
32So the new residents worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.[ † ]1 Kings 12:311 Kings 13:33 33They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been carried away.[ † ]Zephaniah 1:5
34To this day they are still practicing their former customs. None of them worship the Lord or observe the statutes, ordinances, laws, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom He named Israel.[ † ]Genesis 32:28Genesis 35:10
35For the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites and commanded them, “Do not worship other gods or bow down to them; do not serve them or sacrifice to them.[ † ]Judges 6:10Exodus 20:5 36Instead, worship the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to bow down to Him and offer sacrifices to Him.[ † ]Exodus 14:15-30Exodus 6:6Exodus 9:15Deuteronomy 10:20 37And you must always be careful to observe the statutes, ordinances, laws, and commandments He wrote for you. Do not worship other gods.[ † ]Deuteronomy 5:32 38Do not forget the covenant I have made with you. Do not worship other gods,[ † ]Deuteronomy 4:23Deuteronomy 6:12 39but worship the Lord your God, and He will deliver you from the hands of all your enemies.”
40But they would not listen, and they persisted in their former customs. 41So these nations worshiped the Lord but also served their idols, and to this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.[ † ]2 Kings 17:32-33