2 Kings 17:3-23

31Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up 2against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. 4But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.

5Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to 3Samaria and besieged it three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea, 4the king of Assyria captured Samaria and 5carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and 6settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of 7Gozan, and 8in the cities of the Medes.

7Now 9this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, 10who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 11and they had 12feared other gods 8and 13walked in the 14customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs 15of the kings of Israel which they had 16introduced. 9The sons of Israel 17did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from 18watchtower to fortified city. 1019They set for themselves sacred pillars and 2021Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord. 12They served idols, 22concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13Yet the 23Lord warned Israel and Judah 24through all His prophets and 25every seer, saying, “26Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” 14However, they did not listen, but 27stiffened their neck 28like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 1529They rejected His statutes and 30His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And 31they followed vanity and 32became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the 33Lord had commanded them not to do like them. 16They forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even 34two calves, and 35made an 36Asherah and 37worshiped all the host of heaven and 38served Baal. 17Then 39they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and 40practiced divination and enchantments, and 41sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 18So the Lord was very angry with Israel and 42removed them from His 43sight; 44none was left except the tribe of Judah.

19Also 45Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but 46walked in the 47customs 48which Israel had 49introduced. 20The Lord rejected all the 50descendants of Israel and afflicted them and 51gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them 52out of His sight.

21When 53He had torn Israel from the house of David, 54they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then 55Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them 56commit a great sin. 22The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them 2357until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, 58as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. 59So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.