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¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.² And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel that were before him.³ Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his slave, and brought him tribute.⁴ And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute 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 Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ And it was so, because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who 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 nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the sons of Israel; and [walked in the statutes] which the kings of Israel made.⁹ And the sons of Israel secretly did things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;¹⁰ and they set themselves up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;¹¹ and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;¹² and they served idols, whereof Yahweh had said to them, You shall not do this thing.¹³ Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, 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 my slaves the prophets.¹⁴ Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh their God.¹⁵ And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had charged them that they should not act like them.¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.¹⁷ And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and told the future and used magic, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.¹⁹ Also Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.²⁰ And Yahweh 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.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 Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.²² And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them;²³ until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his slaves the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and 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 didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them.²⁶ Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, look, they slay them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land.²⁷ Then the king of Assyria 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.²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.²⁹ Nevertheless 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.³⁰ And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.³² So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.³³ They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.³⁴ To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear Yahweh, neither do they act after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel;³⁵ with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:³⁶ but Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow yourselves, and to him you shall sacrifice:³⁷ and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do for evermore; and you shall not fear other gods:³⁸ and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget; neither shall you fear other gods:³⁹ but Yahweh your God you shall fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.⁴⁰ Nevertheless they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.⁴¹ So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their graven images; their sons likewise, and the sons of their sons, as did their fathers, so they do to this day.