Chapter 17.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hosea the son of Elah to reign in
Samaria over Israel nine years.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of
Israel that were before him.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria.
And Hosea became his servant and gave him presents.
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea, for he had sent messengers to
So, king of Egypt, and brought no present 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.
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to
Samaria and besieged it three years.
In the ninth year of Hosea the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel
away into Assyria and placed them in Hela and in Hebor, by the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes.
For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,
which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen,
whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of
Israel, which they had made.
And the children of Israel did secretly those 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 watchman to the fence city.
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green
tree, and there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom
the Lord carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the
Lord to anger.
For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this
thing.
Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by
all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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.
Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck
of their fathers, they did not believe in the Lord their God.
And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers,
and his testimonies which he testified against them.
And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round
about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like
them.
And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten
images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven,
and served Baal.
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire,
and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the
sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight.
There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the
statutes of Israel which they made.
And the Lord 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.
For he rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of
Nebat king.
And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.
For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did.
They departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight,
as he had said by all his servants the prophets.
So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Kuthah, and from Avah,
and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel.
And they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the
Lord.
Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou
hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of
the land.
Therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold they slay them, because they
know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests
whom ye brought from thence, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them
the manner of the God of the land.
Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt
in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
Howbeit 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 wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succoth and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men
of Hamath made Ashymer, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartac, and the Sephavites
burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anamelech, the gods of
Sephavaim.
So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests
of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the Lord, and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom
they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners.
They fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their
ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the
children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not
fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to
them.
But the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a
stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall
ye do sacrifice.
And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which he
wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore, and ye shall not fear other
gods.
And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget, neither shall ye fear
other gods, but the Lord your God ye shall fear, and he shall deliver you out of the
hand of all your enemies.
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images,
both their children and their children's children.
As did their fathers, so do they unto this day.