Hoshea becomes king_of_Israel
1Hoshea, son of Elah, became king_of_Israel in Samaria in the 12th year after Ahaz had become king_of_Judah. Hoshea was king for 9 years. 2He did what the Lord said was wrong but he was not as bad as the kings_of_Israel had been before him. 3King Shalmaneser of Assyria came to attack Hoshea, but Hoshea said he would serve King Shalmaneser and then he started paying the king of Assyria taxes every year. 4Later they told the king of Assyria that Hoshea had made plans against him and that he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt asking him for help. Hoshea also stopped paying taxes to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria sent men to catch Hoshea and he put him into jail.
The Assyrian soldiers defeat the city of Samaria
5The king of Assyria went to war_against the land_of_Israel. He besieged the city of Samaria but he could not get into the city. He put up his tents there and after 3 years he defeated them. 6In the 9th year after Hoshea became king, the king of Assyria defeated the city of Samaria and he caught the Israelites and took them away to Assyria. He let them live in the towns of Halah in Gozan at the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
7This happened because the Israelites had sinned_against the Lord their God, the God who had freed them from Egypt and from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Israelites had worshipped other gods 8and they had done the same bad things as the other people did. The Lord had chased those people away and He had given the land to the Israelites. But the kings_of_Israel did the same as the kings of those other nations, 9and the Israelites did many things that God said were wrong, but they thought the Lord did not know about it. They built places_of_sacrifice in all their towns and cities. 10They put up sacred_pillars and idols of Asherah on every high hill and under every green tree. 11They burnt incense-offerings at all the places_of_sacrifice. They did the same as the other nations. The Lord had chased those people away to give their land to the Israelites. But the Israelites did bad things and they made the Lord angry. 12The Lord had told them not to serve_idols, but they did not listen to God.
13The Lord sent all the prophets and seers to warn the Israelites and the people of Judah. The Lord said: ‘You must stop the bad things that you do. You must obey my laws that I gave to your forefathers. I told you this when I sent my servants, the prophets, to you.’
14But the Israelites did not want to listen. They were as stubborn as their forefathers. Their forefathers had not believed that God would do what He said. 15They did not listen to his laws and his covenant that He had made with their forefathers. They did not listen when He warned them. They served gods that could do nothing, and then the Israelites became like those gods. The Lord had told them not to do the things that the other people did but they did the same as the other nations.
16They disobeyed all the laws of their God, the Lord. They made 2 images of bull-calves and they put up a sacred_pillar. They worshipped the sun and the moon and all the stars and they served Baal. 17They burnt their children in fires and used magic and looked for signs to find out what would happen in the future. They enjoyed doing bad things that God said were wrong, things that made Him angry.
18The Lord became very angry with the Israelites and He decided to take them away. Only the Judah tribe did not go away. They stayed in their land. 19But the people of Judah also did not want to listen to the laws of God, and they lived like the Israelites. 20Then the Lord sent all the people of Israel away and He turned his back on them and said they were not his people anymore. The Lord made them suffer and He called people to come into the land to take everything they had. And then the Lord took them away and did not think about them again.
21Yes, the Lord tore Israel from the family of King David and the Israelites made Jeroboam, son of Nebat, their king. Jeroboam pulled the Israelites away from God and made them disobey the Lord and he made them sin badly. 22The Israelites did all the sins that Jeroboam did, and they did not stop doing that, 23until the Lord decided to take the Israelites away. The Lord had warned them before what He would do when He sent all his servants, the prophets, to them. The enemies caught all the Israelites and took them away from their land to Assyria. The Israelites are still in Assyria today.
The king of Assyria brings people from other lands to Samaria
24The king of Assyria brought people of the towns of Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and he let them live in the land_of_Israel in the towns of Samaria. They stayed in Samaria and they ruled there. 25When they came there, they did not serve the Lord and the Lord sent lions to kill some of them. 26Some people then sent a message to the king of Assyria and said to him: ‘You have taken people from other lands and put them in the towns of Samaria to live there. Those people do not know the laws of the God of this land and that is why He has sent lions to kill the people.’
27The king of Assyria then said: ‘You must get one of the priests whom you caught and took away, and take him back to Samaria. Let the priest stay in the land_of_Israel so that he can teach the people the laws of the God of the land.’
28One of the priests who had come from Samaria went back again and he went to live in Bethel. He taught the people how they must serve the Lord. 29But all the people who came to live in the land_of_Israel kept on making gods for themselves and they put the gods in the temples and places_of_sacrifice that the people of Samaria had built. The people from all the nations did that in all the towns where they lived. 30The people of Babylon made the god Sukkoth-Benoth, the people of Kuthah made the god Nergal, the people of Hamath made the god Ashima, 31the people from Avva made the gods Nibhaz and Tartak and the Sepharvite people burnt their children in the fire and sacrificed them to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of the Sepharvaim people. 32But these people also served the Lord and they chose their own priests. The priests worked in the temples at the places_of_sacrifice. 33The people served the Lord but they also served their own gods as they had always done in the lands from where they came. 34They still do this today. They do not serve the Lord as He told them to, because they do not obey the laws that God gave the descendants of Jacob. The Lord gave Jacob the name Israel 35and the Lord made a covenant with him. The Lord said to them: ‘You may not serve other gods and you may not bow down to them and you may not sacrifice to them. 36You must serve only the Lord. It is I who brought you out of Egypt when I did big and wonderful miracles. You must serve Me and worship Me and sacrifice only to Me. 37And you must always listen to the laws that I gave you. Do not serve other gods. 38Do not forget the covenant that I made with you, and do not serve other gods. 39You must serve only the Lord your God, then I will save you from all your enemies.’
40But the people did not listen to God. They continued to do what they had always done. 41Those people who then came to live in the land_of_Israel served the Lord but they also served their idols. They, their children and grandchildren did the same sins as their forefathers had done. They still sin like this today.
