4 Kings 17

¹In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, reigned Osee the son of Ela in Samaria over Israel nine years.

²And he did evil before our Lord: but not as the kings of Israel, that had been before him.

³Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee was made servant to him, and payed him tributes.

⁴And when the king of the Assyrians had found, that Osee endeavouring to rebel had sent messengers to Sua the king of Ægypt, that he might not pay tributes to the king of the Assyrians, as every year he was accustomed, he besieged him, and cast him bound into prison.

⁵And he ranged through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years.

⁶And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of Assyrians took Samaria, and transferred Israel unto the Assyrians: and he put them in Hala, & in Habor beside the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

⁷For it came to pass, when the children of Israel had sinned to our Lord their God, which brought them out of the land of Ægypt, & out of the hand of Pharao the king of Ægypt, they worshipped strange gods.

⁸And they walked according to the rite of the Gentiles, which our Lord had consumed in the sight of the children of Israel, & of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like manner.

⁹And the children of Israel offended our Lord their God with words not right: & built them excelses in all their cities from the Tower of watchmen unto the fenced city.

¹⁰And they made them statues & groves on every high hill, & under every thick woody tree:

¹¹& burnt there incense upon the altars after the manner of the Gentiles, which our Lord removed from their face: & they did wicked things, provoking our Lord.

¹²And they worshipped the filths, whereof our Lord commanded them that they should not do this thing.

¹³And our Lord testified in Israel and in Juda by the hand of all the Prophets & Seers, saying: Return from your most wicked ways, and keep my precepts and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers: and as I have sent to you in the hand of my servants the Prophets.

¹⁴Who heard not, but hardened their neck according to the neck of their fathers, who would not obey our Lord their God.

¹⁵And they cast away his ordinances, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testifications, wherewith he contested them: and they followed vanities, and did vainly: and they followed the Gentiles, that were round about them, concerning which our Lord had commanded them, that they should not do as they did.

¹⁶And they forsook all the precepts of our Lord their God: and made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored all the host of heaven: and they served Baal,

¹⁷and consecrated their sons, and their daughters through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered up themselves to do evil before our Lord, that they might provoke him.

¹⁸And our Lord was wrath with Israel vehemently, and took them away from his sight, and there remained but the tribe of Juda only.

¹⁹But neither Juda itself kept the commandments of our Lord their God: but walked in the errors of Israel, which it had wrought.

²⁰And our Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of the spoilers, till he threw them away from his face:

²¹even now from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of David, and made Jeroboam the son of Nabat their king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from our Lord, and made them sin a great sin.

²²And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them,

²³until our Lord took away Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants the Prophets: and Israel was transported out of their land unto the Assyrians, until this day.

²⁴And the king of the Assyrians brought from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria for the children of Israel: who possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

²⁵And when they began to dwell there, they feared not our Lord: and our Lord sent lions upon them, which killed them.

²⁶And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and said: The nations, which thou hast transferred, and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land: and the Lord hath sent lions upon them: and behold they kill them, for that they know not the rite of the God of the land.

²⁷And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Bring thither one of the Priests, which you brought thence captive, and let him go, and dwell with them: and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land.

²⁸Therefore when one of those Priests, which were led captive from Samaria, was come, he dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship our Lord.

²⁹And every Nation framed their own god, and put them in the high temples, which the Samaritans had made, Nation and Nation in their cities, where they dwelt.

³⁰For the men of Babylon made Socothbenoth: and the Cutheites made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima.

³¹Moreover the Heveites made Nebahaz and Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech, and Anamelech the gods of Sepharvaim,

³²and nevertheless they worshipped our Lord. And they made to themselves of the vilest persons Priests of the excelses, and they placed them in the high temples.

³³And when they worshipped our Lord, they served also their own gods according to the custom of the Nations out of the which they were transported to Samaria:

³⁴until this present day they follow the old manner: they fear not our Lord, neither keep they his ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, which our Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel:

³⁵and he had made a covenant with them, and had commanded them, saying: Fear not strange gods, and adore them not, neither worship them, and immolate not to them.

³⁶But the Lord your God, which brought you out of the Land of Ægypt in great strength, and a stretched out arm, him fear ye, and him adore, and to him do ye immolate.

³⁷The ceremonies also, and judgments, and law, and the commandment, that he wrote you, keep ye, that you may do them always: and fear not strange gods.

³⁸And the covenant, that he made with you, forget not: neither do ye worship strange gods,

³⁹but fear our Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

⁴⁰But they heard not, but did according to their old custom.

⁴¹These Nations therefore were fearing our Lord, but nevertheless serving their idols also: for both their children and nephews, as their fathers did, so do they until this present day.