Part 225 (2/2)
In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda... He began to reign before: but was not in quiet possession of the kingdom to the twelfth year of Achaz.
17:2. And he did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him.
17:3. Against him came up Salmanasar, king of the a.s.syrians; and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute.
17:4. And when the king of the a.s.syrians found that Osee, endeavouring to rebel, had sent messengers to Sua, the king of Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the a.s.syrians, as he had done every year, he besieged him, bound him, and cast him into prison.
17:5. And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years.
17:6. And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the a.s.syrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to a.s.syria: and he placed them in Hala, and Habor, by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.
17:7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord, their G.o.d, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharao, king of Egypt; and they wors.h.i.+pped strange G.o.ds.
17:8. And they walked according to the way of the nations which the Lord had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel: because they had done in like manner.
17:9. And the children of Israel offended the Lord, their G.o.d, with things that were not right: and built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
17:10. And they made them statues and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree:
17:11. And they burnt incense there upon altars, after the manner of the nations which the Lord had removed from their face: and they did wicked things, provoking the Lord.
17:12. And they wors.h.i.+pped abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing.
17:13. And the Lord testified to them in Israel, and in Juda, by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your 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.
17:14. And they hearkened not, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord, their G.o.d.
17:15. And they rejected his ordinances, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly: and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.
17:16. And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord, their G.o.d: and made to themselves two molten calves, and groves, and adored all the host of heaven: and they served Baal,
17:17. And consecrated their sons, and their daughters, through fire: and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him.
17:18. And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda.
17:19. But neither did Juda itself keep the commandments of the Lord, their G.o.d: but they walked in the errors of Israel, which they had wrought.
17:20. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away from his face:
17:21. Even from that time, when Israel was rent from the house of David, and made Jeroboam, son of Nabat, their king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin.
17:22. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them,
17:23. Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants, the prophets: and Israel was carried away out of their land to a.s.syria, unto this day.
17:24. And the king of the a.s.syrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
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