2 Kings 17:9-23

9And the sons of Israel 1did things secretly against the Lord their God which were not right. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from 2watchtower to fortified city. 10And 3they set up for themselves memorial stones 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 that the Lord had taken into 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 89through all His prophets and 10every seer, saying, “11Turn back from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes in accordance with all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you 12through My servants the prophets.” 14However, they did not listen, but 13stiffened their neck 14like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 1515They rejected His statutes and 16His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings which He 17gave them. And 18they followed 19idols and 20became empty, and followed the nations that surrounded them, about which the 21Lord had commanded them not to do as they did. 16And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast metal images: 22two calves. And they 23made an 24Asherah, and 25worshiped all the heavenly 26lights, and 27served Baal. 17Then 28they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and they 29practiced divination and interpreting omens, and 30gave themselves over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 18So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He 31removed them from His 32sight; 33no one was left except the tribe of Judah.

1934Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God either, but they 3536followed the 37customs 38which Israel had 39introduced. 20So the Lord rejected all the 40descendants of Israel and afflicted them and 41handed them over to plunderers, until He had cast them 42out of His sight.

21When 43He had torn Israel from the house of David, 44they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then 45Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and misled them into a great sin. 22And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed; they did not desist from them 2346until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, 47just as He had spoken through all His servants the prophets. 48So Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.