2 Kings 17:7-20

7All this happened because the Israelites did bad things against the Lord, their God. The Lord had brought them safely out of Egypt. He had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But now they worshipped other gods.

8They did the same bad things that the nations that lived in Canaan did. The Lord had chased those nations out of Canaan so that the Israelites could live there. The Israelites copied the bad things that the kings of Israel were doing.

9They secretly did things that the Lord their God said were not right. In all their towns, they built altars to worship false gods. They built them everywhere, in small villages and in strong cities.

10They put up stone pillars and Asherah poles to worship their gods. They put them on top of all the high hills and under all the big trees.

11At all those places they burned incense to worship their gods, as the nations in Canaan had done. The Lord had chased those nations out of Canaan so that the Israelites could live there. The Israelites did evil things that made the Lord very angry.

12They refused to obey the Lord's command and they worshipped useless idols.

13The Lord had used his prophets and his other servants to warn the people of Israel and Judah. He told them, ‘Stop living in an evil way. Obey my Law, with its commands and its rules. I gave my Law to your ancestors so that they would obey it. I also used my servants, the prophets, to teach it to you.’

14But the Israelites would not agree to obey God's Law. They were proud and they refused to obey. Like their ancestors, they did not trust in the Lord their God.

15They did not obey God's rules. They did not accept the covenant that he had made with their ancestors. They did not listen when he warned them. Instead, they worshipped useless idols, which caused them to become useless themselves. The Lord had commanded them not to live in the same way that the nations around them did. But they did that anyway.

16They turned away from all the commands of the Lord their God. They used metal to make images of two calves as their idols. They also made an Asherah pole to worship. They worshipped all the stars in the sky and they served Baal.

17They burned their sons and their daughters in fire as offerings to Baal. They used magic to find out what would happen in the future. They chose to do things that the Lord said were evil. That made him very angry.

18The Lord was so angry with Israel that he sent them far away from himself. Only the tribe of Judah remained.

19But even the people of Judah did not obey the commands of the Lord their God. They did the same bad things that the Israelites had done.

20So the Lord turned against all the descendants of Israel. He punished them. He put them under the power of robbers. In that way, he chased them far away from himself.