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2 Kings 17

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

1

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah,  aHoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years.

2

He did evil in the sight of the LORD, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

3

 aShalmaneser king of Assyria came up  bagainst him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.

4

But 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.

5

Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to  aSamaria and besieged it three years.

Israel Captive

6

In the ninth year of Hoshea,  athe king of Assyria captured Samaria and  bcarried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and  csettled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of  dGozan, and  ein the cities of the Medes.

Why Israel Fell

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Now  athis came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God,  bwho had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,  cand they had  1feared other gods

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and  awalked in the  1customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs  bof the kings of Israel which they had  2introduced.

9

The 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  awatchtower to fortified city.

10

 aThey set for themselves sacred pillars and  1 bAsherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

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and 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.

12

They served idols,  aconcerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

13

Yet the  aLORD warned Israel and Judah  bthrough all His prophets and  cevery seer, saying, " dTurn 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."

14

However, they did not listen, but  astiffened their neck  1like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

15

 aThey rejected His statutes and  bHis covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And  cthey followed vanity and  dbecame vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the  eLORD had commanded them not to do like them.

16

They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even  atwo calves, and  bmade an  1Asherah and  cworshiped all the host of heaven and  dserved Baal.

17

Then  athey made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and  bpracticed divination and enchantments, and  csold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.

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So the LORD was very angry with Israel and  aremoved them from His  1sight;  bnone was left except the tribe of Judah.

19

Also  aJudah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but  bwalked in the  1customs  2which Israel had  3introduced.

20

The LORD rejected all the  1descendants of Israel and afflicted them and  agave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them  2out of His sight.

21

When  aHe had torn Israel from the house of David,  bthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then  cJeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them  1commit a great sin.

22

The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them

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 auntil the LORD removed Israel from His sight,  bas He spoke through all His servants the prophets.  aSo Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Cities of Israel Filled with Strangers

24

 aThe king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from  1 bAvva and from  cHamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

25

At the beginning of their living there, they  adid not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.

26

So 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."

27

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into  1exile and let  2him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land."

28

So 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.

29

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

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 aThe men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

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and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and  athe Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to  bAdrammelech and Anammelech the gods of  cSepharvaim.

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 aThey also feared the LORD and  1 bappointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.

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They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.

34

To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the LORD, nor do they  1follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob,  awhom He named Israel;

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with whom the LORD made a covenant and commanded them, saying, " aYou shall not fear other gods, nor  bbow down yourselves to them nor  cserve them nor sacrifice to them.

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"But the LORD,  awho brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with  ban outstretched arm,  cHim you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.

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"The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you,  ayou shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.

38

"The covenant that I have made with you,  ayou shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.

39

"But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."

40

However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.

41

 aSo while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their  1idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:23:14 2007)

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