2 Kings 17:18

18 God was so thoroughly angry that he got rid of them, got them out of the country for good until only one tribe was left - Judah.

2 Kings 17:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:18

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel
Nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry:

and removed them out of his sight;
not out of the reach of his all seeing eye, but from all tokens of his favour, from the good land he had given them, and all the benefits and privileges of it:

there was none left but the tribe of Judah only;
and part of Benjamin, which was annexed to it, and incorporated in it, and made one kingdom, and maintained the same worship; and there was the lot of Simeon, which was within the tribe of Judah; and the priests and the Levites, and various individuals of the several tribes, that came and settled among them for the sake of worship; but no perfect, distinct, tribe besides.

2 Kings 17:18 In-Context

16 They threw out everything God, their God, had told them, and replaced him with two statue-gods shaped like bull-calves and then a phallic pole for the whore goddess Asherah. They worshiped cosmic forces - sky gods and goddesses - and frequented the sex-and-religion shrines of Baal.

17 They even sank so low as to offer their own sons and daughters as sacrificial burnt offerings! They indulged in all the black arts of magic and sorcery. In short, they prostituted themselves to every kind of evil available to them. And God had had enough.

18 God was so thoroughly angry that he got rid of them, got them out of the country for good until only one tribe was left - Judah.

19 (Judah, actually, wasn't much better, for Judah also failed to keep God's commands, falling into the same way of life that Israel had adopted.)

20 God rejected everyone connected with Israel, made life hard for them, and permitted anyone with a mind to exploit them to do so. And then this final No as he threw them out of his sight.