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Chapter 17 |
| 1 | In the twelfth
year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria
over Israel nine years. |
| 2 | And he did that which was evil in the sight
of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. |
| 3 |
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant,
and gave him presents. |
| 4 | And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in
Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present
to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of
Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. |
| 5 | Then the king
of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and
besieged it three years. |
| 6 | In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of
Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in
Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
|
| 7 | For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD
their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, |
| 8 | And walked
in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children
of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. |
| 9 | And the
children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the
LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the
tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. |
|
10 | And they set them up
images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: |
| 11 |
And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom
the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the
LORD to anger: |
|
12 | For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said
unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. |
| 13 | Yet the LORD testified
against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,
saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes,
according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to
you by my servants the prophets. |
| 14 | Notwithstanding they would
not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did
not believe in the LORD their God. |
| 15 | And they rejected his
statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies
which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and
went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had
charged them, that they should not do like them. |
| 16 | And they
left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images,
even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and
served Baal. |
|
17 | And they caused their sons and their daughters to
pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold
themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
|
| 18 | Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of
his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. |
| 19 | Also
Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the
statutes of Israel which they made. |
| 20 | And the LORD rejected all the
seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of
spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. |
| 21 | For he rent
Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king:
and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great
sin. |
| 22 |
For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam
which he did; they departed not from them; |
|
23 | Until the LORD removed
Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So
was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
|
| 24 | And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and
from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities
of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and
dwelt in the cities thereof. |
|
25 | And so it was at the beginning of
their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent
lions among them, which slew some of them. |
|
26 | Wherefore they spake to
the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in
the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he
hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not
the manner of the God of the land. |
| 27 | Then the king of Assyria
commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from
thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of
the God of the land. |
| 28 | Then one of the priests whom they had
carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they
should fear the LORD. |
| 29 | Howbeit every nation made gods of their own,
and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,
every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. |
| 30 | And the men
of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of
Hamath made Ashima, |
| 31 | And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and
the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the
gods of Sepharvaim. |
| 32 | So they feared the LORD, and made unto
themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed
for them in the houses of the high places. |
|
33 | They feared the LORD,
and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried
away from thence. |
| 34 | Unto this day they do after the former
manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after
their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the
children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; |
|
35 | With whom the LORD had
made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor
bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: |
| 36 | But
the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a
stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him
shall ye do sacrifice. |
| 37 | And the statutes, and the ordinances, and
the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do
for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. |
| 38 | And the
covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear
other gods. |
|
39 | But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall
deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. |
| 40 | Howbeit they
did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. |
| 41 | So these
nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children,
and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this
day. |
