1
In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Yehudah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Shomron over Yisra'el, [and reigned] nine years.
2
He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Yisra'el who were before him.
3
Against him came up Shalman'eser king of Ashshur; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.
4
The king of Ashshur found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Mitzrayim, and offered no tribute to the king of Ashshur, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Ashshur shut him up, and bound him in prison.
5
Then the king of Ashshur came up throughout all the land, and went up to Shomron, and besieged it three years.
6
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Ashshur took Shomron, and carried Yisra'el away to Ashshur, and placed them in Halach, and on the Havor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Madai.
7
It was so, because the children of Yisra'el had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Mitzrayim from under the hand of Par`oh king of Mitzrayim, and had feared other gods,
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and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Yisra'el, and of the kings of Yisra'el, which they made.
9
The children of Yisra'el did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
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and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
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and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger;
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and they served idols, whereof the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
13
Yet the LORD testified to Yisra'el, and to Yehudah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my mitzvot and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14
Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in the LORD their God.
15
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 round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged those who they should not do like them.
16
They forsook all the mitzvot of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of the sky, and served Ba`al.
17
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 the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
18
Therefore the LORD was very angry with Yisra'el, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Yehudah only.
19
Also Yehudah didn't keep the mitzvot of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Yisra'el which they made.
20
The LORD rejected all the seed of Yisra'el, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21
For he tore Yisra'el from the house of David; and they made Yarov`am the son of Nevat king: and Yarov`am drove Yisra'el from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
22
The children of Yisra'el walked in all the sins of Yarov`am which he did; they didn't depart from them;
23
until the LORD removed Yisra'el out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Yisra'el was carried away out of their own land to Ashshur to this day.
24
The king of Ashshur brought men from Bavel, and from Kutah, and from Avva, and from Hamat and Sefarvayim, and placed them in the cities of Shomron instead of the children of Yisra'el; and they possessed Shomron, and lived in the cities of it.
25
So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn't fear the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26
Therefore they spoke to the king of Ashshur, saying, The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Shomron, don't know the law of the god of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land.
27
Then the king of Ashshur commanded, saying, Carry there one of the Kohanim 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.
28
So one of the Kohanim whom they had carried away from Shomron came and lived in Beit-El, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
29
However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Shomroni had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
30
The men of Bavel made Sukkot-Benot, and the men of Kut made Nergal, and the men of Hamat made Ashima,
31
and the `Avvim made Niv'chaz and Tartak; and the Sefarvayim burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelekh and `Anammelekh, the gods of Sefarvayim.
32
So they feared the LORD, and made to them from among themselves Kohanim of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34
To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the mitzvah which the LORD commanded the children of Ya`akov, whom he named Yisra'el;
35
with whom the LORD 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:
36
but the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall you fear, and to him shall you bow yourselves, and to him shall you sacrifice:
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and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the mitzvah, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore; and you shall not fear other gods:
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and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget; neither shall you fear other gods:
39
but the LORD your God shall you fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
40
However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.
41
So these nations feared the LORD, and served their engraved images; their children likewise, and their children's children, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.
