2 Kings 17 In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osea son of Ela, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osea son of Ela, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who were before him. ³ Against him Salmanassar king of the Assyrians came up. Now Osea was his vassal and had withheld from him the customary homage gift, ⁴ and the king of the Assyrians had found infidelity in Osea; for lie had sent messengers to Segor king of Egypt, and had not carried to the king of the Assyrians the customary homage gift that year. Therefore the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in prison. ⁵ When the king of Assyria had come up through all the land he went to Samaria and besieged it three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Osea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and transplanted Israel among the Assyrians, and caused them to dwell on the Alae and the Abor, rivers of Gosan, and on the mountains of the Medes. ⁷ Now this came to pass, because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt; and had feared other gods, ⁸ and walked in the ordinances of the nations which the Lord had removed from before the Israelites. ⁹ Indeed with regard to the acts which the kings of Israel did and which the Israelites adopted; were they not in direct opposition to the Lord their God? ¹⁰ They built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the watch tower to the fortified city; and erected for themselves pillars and bowers on every high hill, and under every shady tree; ¹¹ and there burned incense in all the high places, as the nations did which the Lord had removed from before them. Nay, they unhallowed and marked themselves to provoke the Lord to wrath; ¹² and served the idols, concerning which the Lord said to them, You shall not do such a thing for the Lord. ¹³ And though the Lord testified to Israel and to Juda by the ministry of all his prophets; of every seer, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes and all my law which I enjoined on your fathers, and which I sent them by the ministry of my servants the prophets; ¹⁴ yet they hearkened not; but hardened their neck more than their fathers had done; ¹⁵ His testimonies which he gave them in charge, they did not keep; but walked after vanities and became vain, and followed the nations around them in the very things which the Lord commanded them not to do. ¹⁶ They forsook the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves a molten image; even two calves. And having made bowers, they worshipped the whole host of heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ They made their sons and their daughters to pass through fire, and used divination and practised augury. Indeed they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to wrath. ¹⁸ And though the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his presence, and there was none left but only the tribe of Juda, ¹⁹ yet even then Juda did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God; but walked in the ordinances which Israel had made, and rejected the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore the Lord was angry with the whole race of Israel and shook them off, and delivered them into the hands of spoilers who ransacked them until he cast them out of his sight. ²¹ Because Israel, besides revolting from the house of David, made Jeroboam son of Nabat king; therefore Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and caused them to commit a great sin; ²² and the Israelites proceeded on in the sin of Jeroboam which he had caused them to commit; and departed not from it, ²³ until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he spoke by the ministry of all his servants the prophets. Now when Israel was removed from their own land to Assyria, where they continue to this day; ²⁴ the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon and from Chutha and from Aia and from Aimath and Seppharuim, and planted them in the cities of Samaria, in stead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof. ²⁵ But as they did not, at the beginning of their settlement, fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them. And when they were making havock among them, ²⁶ some spoke to the king of Assyria saying, The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the ritual of the God of that land; therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold they are killing them, because they do not know the ritual of the God of that land. ²⁷ Thereupon the king of Assyria gave orders, saying, Take some who came from that country, and let them go and dwell there, that they may teach them the rites of the God of that land. ²⁸ So they brought one of the priests whom they had transported from Samaria, and he settled at Baithel. And while he was instructing them how they should fear the Lord, ²⁹ they were making, every nation, their own gods, which they set up in the house of the high places which the Samaritans had erected; every nation in the cities where they dwelt. ³⁰ Thus the men of Babylon made Sokchoth-benith; and the men of Chuth made Ergal; and the men of Aimath made Asimath; ³¹ and the Evites made Eblazer and Tharthak; and the Seppharuims made Adramelech and Anemelech, because they of Seppharuim burned their children to these gods. ³² Though they feared the Lord, yet they set up their own abominations, in the houses of the high places which they had made in Samaria, every nation in the city where they dwelt. Though they feared the Lord, yet they made for themselves priests of the high places, and sacrificed for themselves in the house of the high places. ³³ They both feared the Lord and served their own gods, according to the ritual of the nations from which they had been transplanted. ³⁴ Even to this day they have acted according to this ritual of theirs. They fear; and they do according to their own rites and their own institutions, and according to the law and the command which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob to whom he gave the name Israel, ³⁵ Though the Lord had made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, You shall not fear other gods nor worship them nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them, ³⁶ for these acts you must do to the Lord only, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; Him you shall fear, and Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice; ³⁷ These statutes and these judgments and this law and the commandments which he hath written for you to do, you shall keep continually; and you shall not fear other gods; ³⁸ and this covenant which he hath made with you, you must not forget. You shall not fear other gods; ³⁹ but fear the Lord your God only, and he will deliver you from all your enemies; ⁴⁰ and you shall pay no regard to the rites which they practise. ⁴¹ Yet these nations feared the Lord and at the same time served their graven images. And even to this day their children and their children's children do as their fathers did.