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In the
twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea
the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel
nine years.
02 And he did that which was evil in the sight of
the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that
were before him.
03 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of
Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave
him presents.
04 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.
05 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout
all the land, and went up to Samaria, and
besieged it three years.
06 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.
07 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,
08 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.
09 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.
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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.
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