Hoshea, new king of Israel
1Hoshea, the son of Elah, became king of Israel. He ruled out of the capital city of Samaria. He began his reign when King Ahaz was into his 12th year of ruling Judah, in the south. 2Hoshea was not a good king, as far as God was concerned. But he wasn’t as bad as the kings before him.3Assyria’s King Shalmaneser [1] invaded Israel. Hoshea agreed to become one of Assyria’s servant kings, paying him taxes as tribute. 4But Assyria’s king found out that Hoshea had betrayed him. Hoshea withheld the tribute and asked Egypt’s King So to join him in breaking free of the Assyrian empire. For that, Assyria’s king had Hoshea arrested and imprisoned.
Israel erased, never to return
5Then the Assyrian king unleased a full-scale invasion of Israel. His army surrounded Israel’s capital city of Samaria in a siege that lasted three years. 6Then, in Hoshea’s ninth year as king, Assyrians broke through the defenses and captured Samaria. [2] They took survivors back to Assyria and resettled them into immigrant communities. [3] Assyrians scattered the Israelites into the towns of Halah, Habor, and Gozan [4] by the river. They sent some to the distant Mede [5] frontier.7Israel’s sin caused all of this. The LORD God brought their ancestors up here out of slavery in Pharoah’s Egypt. But they rewarded him by trading him in on idols. 8They adopted religions of the people God drove out of the land. And they let Israel’s kings lead them into new pagan worship practices. [6]
9People of Israel tried to hide their idolatry from God. They built secret shrines—little worship stations. They set them up everywhere, from guard towers outside their cities to panic rooms inside the king’s palace. 10On hilltops and under shade trees, they set up sacred pillars and poles for worshiping Asherah. [7] 11They burned incense at shrines everywhere, just like the people God drove off the land. They added to this more sins, which were absolutely evil. That made God angry. 12They worshiped idols, ignoring God’s order not to do it. [8]
13The LORD warned Israel and Judah. He sent prophets and seers who could see the future. They all warned the people to stop sinning. They said, “Stop your evil behavior. Respect the laws God gave your ancestors. Obey them all, as the prophets and God’s people tell you to do.” 14That went nowhere. Those people were as stubborn and as suspicious of God as their ancestors were. They didn’t trust God.
15They broke the contract with God that their ancestors had made—an agreement to obey his laws. Instead, they worshiped worthless idols, which turned them into a worthless nation. They adopted the customs of the people who used to live there even though God told them not to. 16They abandoned God’s laws and made a new religion. They molded a pair of golden calf idols and a pole for worshiping Asherah. They worshiped gods of the sky [9] and Baal [10] as well.
17They sacrificed their own sons and daughters, burning their bodies on altars. They practiced fortune-telling and sorcery. They chose evil as their lifestyle. That’s the opposite of what God wanted. So, God got mad. 18God’s anger ended Israel. He erased them. Only Judah was left of what used to be the united tribes of Israel.
19But Judah had problems, too. They didn’t obey God. Instead, they adopted the religion that Israel dreamed up for themselves. 20In the end, God rejected the people who had rejected him. He made life harder for them, and then he let raiders and invaders pick them to pieces until they, too, were gone.
21When God tore the northern tribes of Israel away from David’s dynasty, the northerners picked Jeroboam as king. He was the son of Nebat. King Jeroboam led Israel into the huge sin of idolatry. 22Israel continued the pagan worship tradition Jeroboam set up. 23It went on and on until God erased Israel from the land, as he warned he would do. His prophets and other servants had delivered that message. So, here’s what happened as a result. Assyrians deported the people of Israel out of their own country. They never came back.
Assyria gives Israel to settlers
24Assyria’s king repopulated Israel with people from other countries, whom he forced out of their homes. They came from the towns of Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. [11] The king ordered them to settle in the territory known as Samaria. They took the land and lived in the towns that Israel built.25These settlers on God’s land didn’t worship him when they first came. So God sent some lions to get their attention. The lions killed some of the people. [12] 26Someone reported this back to the king of Assyria. They said, “Those people you deported to towns in Samaria are getting eaten alive. They don’t know how to worship the god in that territory, so he’s sending lions to kill them.”
27The king said, “Go find one of the priests we brought here from Samaria. Take him back to teach the people how to stay on the good side of that god.” 28So, one of the priests moved back to the town of Bethel and taught the people how to worship the LORD. [13]
Settlers worship God and gods
29But one God wasn’t enough. Each community set up hilltop shrines. These were sacred spaces devoted to gods they grew up worshiping in the countries from which they came. 30The various groups worshiped these gods.Babylon: Succoth-Benoth [14]
Cuthah: Nergal [15]
Hamath: Ashima [16]
Sepharvaim: sacrificed children to Adrammelech [19] and Anammelech. [20]
32These people worshiped the LORD, too. But they picked whoever they wanted to serve as priests at the other worship shrines and sacred spaces they set up. 33Yes, they worshiped the LORD. But they brought their old religions with them and continued to practice them.
34To this very day, they still worship those pagan gods. They no longer worship the LORD or obey his laws, which he gave to the descendants of Jacob—the man God renamed “Israel.” [21] 35The LORD made a contract with the people of Israel. In this covenant he said, “You can’t worship idols or bow to them and offer sacrifices. [22] 36He brought you out of Egypt. Worship him. Sacrifice to him. 37Take his laws seriously and obey them. He wrote them for you. Don’t worship other gods. Period.
38Don’t ignore the contract with God. It’s a sacred covenant of devotion to each other. Don’t worship other gods. 39Instead, worship the LORD. He’s your God. He’s the one who saves you from your enemies.”
40Did the people listen? No. The kept practicing the religion of their homeland. 41They wanted their religion both ways. They observed the rituals for worshiping the LORD, while worshiping idols in their free time. To this day, their descendants are still trying to have it both ways.”
