2 Kings 17:9-29

9The sons of Israel 1did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from 2watchtower to fortified city. 103They set for themselves sacred pillars and 45Asherim 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, 6concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13Yet the 7Lord warned Israel and Judah 8through all His prophets and 9every seer, saying, “10Turn 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 11stiffened their neck 12like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 1513They rejected His statutes and 14His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And 15they followed vanity and 16became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the 17Lord 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 18two calves, and 19made an 20Asherah and 21worshiped all the host of heaven and 22served Baal. 17Then 23they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and 24practiced divination and enchantments, and 25sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 18So the Lord was very angry with Israel and 26removed them from His 27sight; 28none was left except the tribe of Judah.

19Also 29Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but 30walked in the 31customs 32which Israel had 33introduced. 20The Lord rejected all the 34descendants of Israel and afflicted them and 35gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them 36out of His sight.

21When 37He had torn Israel from the house of David, 38they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then 39Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them 40commit a great sin. 22The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them 2341until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, 42as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. 43So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

2444The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from 4546Avva and from 47Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25At the beginning of their living there, they 48did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them. 26So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”

27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into 49exile and let 50him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land.” 28So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

29But every nation still made gods of its own and put them 51in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.