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2 Kings 17
Hoshea Reigns in Israel
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and brought him tribute. But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had not brought tribute to the king of Assyria as year by year. So the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
Samaria Falls to Assyria
Then the king of Assyria went up throughout all the land, went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel into exile to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
Why Israel Went into Exile
This happened because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and they feared other gods. They walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had dispossessed before the children of Israel and in the statutes that the kings of Israel had made. The children of Israel secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every flourishing tree. There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them. They did evil things to provoke the LORD to anger. They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
Israel Refused the Prophets’ Warnings
Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the instruction that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen. They stiffened their neck like the neck of their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God. They rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their ancestors and his testimonies with which he testified against them. They went after emptiness and became empty, and after the nations who were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves cast images, two calves. They made an Asherah, bowed down to all the host of the heavens, and served Baal. They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and omens, and sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. None was left except the tribe of Judah alone.
Judah Also Walked in Israel’s Ways
Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God but walked in the statutes of Israel that they had made. So the LORD rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them from his presence.
Jeroboam Led Israel into Sin
For he tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to sin a great sin. The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he did. They did not turn away from them, until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, as he had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets. So Israel went into exile from its land to Assyria, to this day.
Assyria Resettles Samaria
The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel. They possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. And it happened at the beginning of their living there that they did not fear the LORD. So the LORD sent lions among them, and they were killing some of them. They spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you carried into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and look, they are killing them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried into exile from there. Let him go and live there and teach them the custom of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried into exile from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
The Nations Serve Their Own Gods
But nation by nation made their own gods and placed them in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans had made, nation by nation in the cities where they lived. The people of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima, the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They feared the LORD and also made for themselves from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from which they had been carried away.
They Do Not Fear the LORD as Commanded
To this day they do according to the former customs. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not act according to their statutes, their judgments, the instruction, and the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods or bow down to them or serve them or sacrifice to them. But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm—him you shall fear, to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. The statutes, judgments, instruction, and commandment that he wrote for you, you shall be careful to do all the days. You shall not fear other gods. You shall not forget the covenant that I made with you, and you shall not fear other gods. But the LORD your God you shall fear, and he will rescue you from the hand of all your enemies.” But they did not listen; instead they did according to their former custom. So these nations feared the LORD and served their carved images. Their children also and their children’s children—as their ancestors did, so they do to this day.