II Kings 17 · מלכים ב

In the twelfth year of Aĥaz king of Yehuda Hoshea the son of Ela began to reign in Shomeron over Yisra᾽el, reigning for nine years.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Yisra᾽el that were before him.

Against him came up Shalman᾽eser king of Ashshur; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.

And the king of Ashshur found treachery in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Miżrayim, and brought no present 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.

Then the king of Ashshur came up throughout all the land, and went up to Shomeron, and besieged it for three years.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Ashshur took Shomeron, and carried Yisra᾽el away into Ashshur, and placed them in Ḥalaĥ and in Ḥavor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Maday.

For so it was, when the children of Yisra᾽el had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Miżrayim, from under the hand of Par῾o king of Miżrayim, and had feared other gods,

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 practised;

and the children of Yisra᾽el fabricated matters 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;

and they set them up pillars and asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;

and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger;

for they served idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing;

then the Lord testified against Yisra᾽el, and against Yehuda, 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 Tora which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Yet they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, that 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 worthless paths, and became themselves worthless, and went after the nations 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, two calves, and made an ashera, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served the Ba῾al.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and gave themselves up to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Yisra᾽el, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Yehuda alone.

Also Yehuda did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Yisra᾽el which they practised.

And 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 from his face.

For he rent Yisra᾽el from the house of David; and they made Yorov῾am the son of Nevat king: and Yorov῾am drove Yisra᾽el from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.

For the children of Yisra᾽el walked in all the sins of Yorov῾am which he did; they departed not from them;

until the Lord removed Yisra᾽el out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Yisra᾽el carried away out of their own land to Ashshur to this day.

And the king of Ashshur brought men from Bavel, and from Kuta, and from ῾Avva, and from Ḥamat, and from Sefarvayim, and settled them in the cities of Shomeron, in place of the children of Yisra᾽el: and they took possession of Shomeron and dwelt in its cities.

And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

Then they spoke to the king of Ashshur, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Shomeron, know not the law of the God of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the law of the God of the land.

Then the king of Ashshur commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests 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.

Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Shomeron came and dwelt in Bet-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

Yet every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Shomeronim had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt.

And the men of Bavel made Sukkot-benot, and the men of Kut made Nergal, and the men of Ḥamat made Ashima,

and the ῾Avvim made Nivĥaz and Tartaq, and the Sefarvim burnt their sons in fire to Adrammelekh, and ῾Anammelekh, god of Sefarvayim.

So they feared the Lord, and made to themselves from all ranks of them priests of the high places, who 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 of the countries from which they were carried away.

Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they follow the statutes or the ordinances, or the Tora and the commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Ya῾aqov, whom he named Yisra᾽el;

with whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, you shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

but the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Miżrayim with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall you fear, and him shall you worship, and to him shall you do sacrifice.

And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the Tora, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall be careful to do for all time; and you shall not fear other gods.

And the covenant that I have made with you shall you not forget; neither shall you fear other gods.

But the Lord your God shall you fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

Yet they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

So these nations feared the Lord, and served their carved idols, both their children, and their children’s children: as their fathers did, so they do to this day.