1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.
2He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not like the kings of Israel who were before him.
3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.
4But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, in that he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had not brought up tribute to the king of Assyria year by year; so the king of Assyria imprisoned him and bound him in a house of confinement.
5And the king of Assyria came up throughout the whole land, and he came up against Samaria and besieged it three years.
6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel into exile to Assyria, and he settled them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh 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,
8and they walked in the statutes of the nations that Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in those the kings of Israel had made.
9And the sons of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Yahweh their God, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.
10And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every leafy tree.
11And they burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations that Yahweh had carried into exile from before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh to anger.
12And they served the idols, about which Yahweh had said to them, ‘You shall not do this thing.’
13And Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of every prophet of his, every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the Law that I commanded your fathers and that I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.’
14But they did not listen, and they stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh their God.
15And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies with which he warned them, and they walked after emptiness and became empty, and after the nations that were around them, about whom Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did.
16And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and they made for themselves a molten image, two calves, and they made an Asherah, and they bowed down to all the host of heaven, and they served Baal.
17And they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and they practiced divination and interpreted omens, and they sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, provoking him to anger.
18So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence; none was left except the tribe of Judah alone.
19Judah also did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel that they had made.
20And Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out from his presence.
21For he tore Israel away from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh and made them commit a great sin.
22And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he had done; they did not turn away from it,
23until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence, as he had spoken by the hand of all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried into exile from its own land to Assyria, until this day.
24And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.
25And it came about, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear Yahweh; so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing some of them.
26And they said to the king of Assyria, saying, ‘The nations that you carried into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are putting them to death, because they do not know the custom of the God of the land.’
27And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, ‘Bring there one of the priests whom you carried into exile from there, and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the custom of the God of the land.’
28So one of the priests whom they had carried into exile from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and he was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh.
29But each nation was making its own gods, and they put them in the houses of the high places that the Samaritans had made, each nation in their cities where they were dwelling.
30The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32They also feared Yahweh, and they made for themselves, from among all sorts of their people, priests of the high places, who officiated for them in the houses of the high places.
33They feared Yahweh, yet they served their own gods, according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried into exile.
34To this day they act according to the former customs: they do not fear Yahweh, and they do not act according to their statutes and their ordinances, or according to the law and the commandment that Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
35Yahweh made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying: “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.
36But Yahweh, 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.
37And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe all the days; and you shall not fear other gods.
38And the covenant that I made with you, you shall not forget; and you shall not fear other gods.
39But Yahweh your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40Yet they did not listen, but they kept acting according to their former custom.
41So these nations feared Yahweh, yet they served their carved images; their children and their children’s children too—just as their fathers did, so they continue to do to this day.
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