Lockman - Bible questions and answers

		2 Kin 17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years.
		2 Kin 17:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
		2 Kin 17:3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.
		2 Kin 17:4 But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
		2 Kin 17:5 ¶ Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.
		2 Kin 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
		2 Kin 17:7 ¶ Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods
		2 Kin 17:8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.
		2 Kin 17:9 The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
		2 Kin 17:10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
		2 Kin 17:11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD.
		2 Kin 17:12 They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."
		2 Kin 17:13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets."
		2 Kin 17:14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
		2 Kin 17:15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.
		2 Kin 17:16 They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
		2 Kin 17:17 Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.
		2 Kin 17:18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.
		2 Kin 17:19 ¶ Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced.
		2 Kin 17:20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
		2 Kin 17:21 ¶ When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.
		2 Kin 17:22 The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them
		2 Kin 17:23 until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.
		2 Kin 17:24 ¶ The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
		2 Kin 17:25 At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.
		2 Kin 17:26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land."
		2 Kin 17:27 ¶ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land."
		2 Kin 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
		2 Kin 17:29 ¶ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
		2 Kin 17:30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
		2 Kin 17:31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
		2 Kin 17:32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.
		2 Kin 17:33 They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.
		2 Kin 17:34 ¶ To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel;
		2 Kin 17:35 with whom the LORD made a covenant and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them.
		2 Kin 17:36 "But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
		2 Kin 17:37 "The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.
		2 Kin 17:38 "The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.
		2 Kin 17:39 "But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
		2 Kin 17:40 However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.
		2 Kin 17:41 So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

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