2 Kings 17:8

8 They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them,

2 Kings 17:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:8

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast
out from before the children of Israel
Meaning the Canaanites, in whose idolatrous ways they walked, and whom they imitated; though their ejection out of the land should have been a warning to them, and they were the more inexcusable, as they were particularly cautioned against walking in them, ( Leviticus 18:3 )

and of the kings of Israel, which they had made;
their laws and statutes, to worship the golden calves, and not go up to Jerusalem to worship.

2 Kings 17:8 In-Context

6 He defeated Samaria in the ninth year Hoshea was king, and he took the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 All these things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of the king of Egypt, but the Israelites had honored other gods.

8 They lived like the nations the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of them. They lived as their evil kings had shown them,

9 secretly sinning against the Lord their God. They built places to worship gods in all their cities, from the watchtower to the strong, walled city.

10 They put up stone pillars to gods and Asherah idols on every high hill and under every green tree.