| 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. |
