1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and reigned nine years. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. 4And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Yehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 8and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yehovah cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made. 9And the children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against Yehovah their God: and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; 10and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree; 11and there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yehovah carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke Yehovah to anger; 12and they served idols, of which Yehovah had said to them, You shall not do this thing. 13Yet Yehovah testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in Yehovah their God. 15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yehovah had charged them that they should not do like them. 16And they forsook all the commandments of Yehovah their God, and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and bowed down to all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yehovah, to provoke him to anger. 18Therefore Yehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 19Also Judah did not keep the commandments of Yehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20And Yehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yehovah, and made them sin a great sin. 22And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them; 23until Yehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day. 24And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities. 25And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear Yehovah: therefore Yehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the law of the god of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land. 27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land. 28So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Yehovah. 29However, every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt. 30And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32So they feared Yehovah, and made for themselves from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33They feared Yehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 34To this day they do according to the former manner: they do not fear Yehovah, nor do they follow their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35with whom Yehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 36but Yehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow yourselves, and to him you shall sacrifice: 37and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore; and you shall not fear other gods: 38and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget; neither shall you fear other gods: 39but Yehovah your God you shall fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40However, they did not listen, but they did according to their former manner. 41So these nations feared Yehovah, and served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children’s children, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.