2 Kings 17:5-28

5The king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, along the Habor (Gozan’s river), and in the cities of the Medes.

7This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they worshiped other gods.

8They lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites and according to what the kings of Israel did.

9The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city.

10They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

11They burned incense there on all the high places just like the nations that the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did evil things, angering the Lord.

12They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.”

13Still, the Lord warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

14But they would not listen. Instead they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the Lord their God.

15They rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.

16They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served Baal.

17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight and angered him.

18Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained.

19Even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to the customs Israel had practiced.

20So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, punished them, and handed them over to plunderers until he had banished them from his presence.

21When the Lord tore Israel from the house of David, Israel made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam led Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit grave sin.

22The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam committed and did not turn away from them.

23Finally, the Lord removed Israel from his presence just as he had declared through all his servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland to this very day.

24Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

25When they first lived there, they did not fear the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26The settlers said to the king of Assyria, “The nations that you have deported and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them that are killing them because the people don’t know the requirements of the god of the land.”

27Then the king of Assyria issued a command: “Send back one of the priests you deported. Have him go and live there so he can teach them the requirements of the god of the land.”

28So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear the Lord.