Later, Hoshea sent messengers to the king of Egypt to ask for help. That king's name was So. That year Hoshea did not pay tribute to the king of Assyria as he did every other year. The king of Assyria learned that Hoshea had made plans against him. So he arrested Hoshea and put him in jail.
The king of Assyria took Samaria during the ninth year that Hoshea was king of Israel. He captured many Israelites and took them as prisoners to Assyria. He made them live in Halah by the Habor River at Gozan and in other cities of the Medes.
These things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. And it was the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt! He saved them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But the Israelites began worshiping other gods.
They began doing the same things that other people did. And the Lord had forced those people to leave their land when the Israelites came. The Israelites also chose to be ruled by kings.
The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God, and those things were wrong! The Israelites built high places in all their cities—from the smallest town to the largest city.
They burned incense there in all those places for worship. They did these things like the nations that the Lord forced out of the land before them. The Israelites did evil things that made the Lord angry.
The Lord used every prophet and every seer to warn Israel and Judah. He said, "Turn away from the evil things you do. Obey my commands and laws. Follow all the law that I gave to your ancestors. I used my servants the prophets to give this law to you."
They refused the Lord's laws and the agreement that he made with their ancestors. They refused to listen to the Lord's warnings. They worshiped idols that were worth nothing and they themselves became worth nothing. They lived like the people in the nations around them. They did those bad things. And the Lord had warned the Israelites. The Lord told them not to do those bad things.
The people stopped following the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves. They made Asherah poles. They worshiped all the stars of heaven and served Baal.
They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They used magic and witchcraft to try to learn the future. They sold themselves to do what the Lord said was evil. They did this to make the Lord angry.
The Lord rejected all the Israelites. He brought them many troubles. He let people destroy them. Finally he threw them away and removed them from his sight.
The Lord tore them from the family of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam pulled the Israelites away from following the Lord. He caused them to commit a great sin.
until the Lord took Israel away from his sight. And he said this would happen. He sent his prophets to tell the people this would happen. So the Israelites were taken out of their country into Assyria, and they have been there to this day.
The king of Assyria took the Israelites out of Samaria and brought in other people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. They took over Samaria and lived in the cities around it.
Some people said to the king of Assyria, "The people who you took away and put in the cities of Samaria don't know the law of the god of that country. So that god sent lions to attack them. The lions killed them because they don't know the law of the god of that country."
So the king of Assyria gave this command: "You took some priests from Samaria. Send one of them who I captured back to Samaria. Let that priest go and live there. Then he can teach the people the law of the god of that country."
But all those people made gods of their own. They put them in the temples at the high places that the people of Samaria had made. They did this wherever they lived.
The people of Babylon made the false god Succoth Benoth. The people of Cuthah made the false god Nergal. The people of Hamath made the false god Ashima.
The people of Avva made the false gods Nibhaz and Tartak. The people from Sepharvaim also burned their children in the fire to honor their false gods, Adrammelech and Anammelech.
But they also worshiped the Lord. They chose priests for the high places from among the people. These priests made sacrifices for the people in the temples at those places of worship.
Even today they live like they did in the past. They don't honor the Lord. They don't obey the rules and commands of the Israelites. They don't obey the law or the commands that the Lord gave to the children of Jacob.
The Lord made an agreement with the Israelites. The Lord commanded them, "You must not honor other gods. You must not worship or serve them or offer sacrifices to them.
But you must follow the Lord. He is the God who brought you out of Egypt. He used his great power to save you. You must worship the Lord and make sacrifices to him.
You must obey the rules, laws, teachings, and commands that he wrote for you. You must obey these things all the time. You must not respect other gods.
So now those other nations respected the Lord, but they also served their own idols. Their children and grandchildren did the same thing their ancestors did. They still do these things to this day.