1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hosea became his slave and gave him presents.
4 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.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For so it was that the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
8 and walked in the statutes of the Gentiles, whom the Lord had cast out from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 And the sons of Israel had secretly done those things that were not right against the Lord their God, building themselves high places in all their cities, from the towers of the watchmen to the fenced cities.
10 And they had set themselves up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree;
11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places like the Gentiles, whom the Lord had carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
12 serving idols, of which the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this.
13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn 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 the hand of my slaves the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, who had never believed in the Lord their God.
15 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 Gentiles that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made groves and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal;
17 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.
18 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.
19 But not even Judah kept the commandments of the Lord their God; to the contrary, they walked in the statutes of Israel which they themselves had made.
20 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 presence.
21 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 commit a great sin.
22 For the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them
23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his slaves the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought Gentiles from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.
25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the Lord; therefore, the Lord sent lions against them, which slew some of them.
26 Therefore, they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The Gentiles, which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, do not know the judgment of the God of that land; therefore, he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there; and let them go and dwell there and teach them the judgment of the God of the land.
28 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.
29 However each nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which those of Samaria had made, each nation in their city in which they dwelt.
30 And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared the Lord and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests 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 gentiles whom they carried away from there.
34 Unto this day they do after the former manners; they do not fear the Lord, neither do they keep his statutes nor his ordinances nor the law and the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel,
35 with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,
36 but only the Lord your God 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.
37 And the statutes and rights and the law and the commandments, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do every day; and ye shall not fear other gods.
38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
39 But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
40 Howbeit they did not hearken; to the contrary they did after their former manner.
41 So these Gentiles feared the Lord and served their graven images, and likewise their sons and their grandsons; as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.